34.. Portrait Study

Don 11x14 oil

Today's painting is a portrait study of another artist friend.  I asked on one of my painting forums if folks would send me photos of themselves, so I can practice painting portraits.  Don generously supplied several.

Working from photos is never as good as working from life, but it's still good practice, and I learn something every time I do one of these.   And not only about painting...

 In our correspondence, Don told me that he is a musician/songwriter, used to tour, but now writes...and this photo is actually one of photos from a CD he has in process at the moment.  He plays sort of "Texas red dirt" country music, which is sort of rocked out country as he explains it.     It's really interesting to connect in these small ways with folks, even using a photo as a "model".!

33. Copper Creamer and Rose

Copper Creamer and Rose 6x8 oil/panel

Today I've got lots of "stuff" to do, so I concentrated on making a quick study with purposeful brushstrokes and simple subject matter.  Roses drive me nuts, so I'm not sure why I picked that today...I had a bit of trouble photographing this - the overall color is still sort of "off" - the inside of the creamer is not that blue - but I just couldn't get it right, and I gotta run!  
I've been working more than usual from photographs, and really, I prefer to work from life, and it is better study to do so.  

Nothing new, just an update

Little Pals 10x10

After checking the value structure on this, and getting some helpful suggestions from some artist friends, I decided to re-work the background on this painting of little foals.  Now there is greater contrast between the foals and the area behind them, and I think the spring-like colors go well with the idea of new babies - I think these two are about to bound off any second now....

32. Grace

Grace 8x10 oil/panel

Grace, not a name, but a quality. This was a study done from an old Smithsonian photo, black and white.  Again the challenge is to add color - skin tones are the most difficult thing (I think) to paint - because skin doesn't really have a color of its own - it  shifts and changes with the light and surrounding colors more than any other "thing" that we paint.   

I'll be off to visit family for Thanksgiving, and though I'll take my paints, I don't have much hope of getting any work done, so it'll be several days before I post again.

Blessings on you all for Thanksgiving - I hope you can enjoy  being with family and friends.  

31. Three Running Horses

Three Running Horses 8x8 oil/panel

I am sick today. So I thought I should keep it simple and paint just one thing.. well, okay, two if you count the feather.  Normally, I'd probably had painted this pot, let it dry, and then glazed on the design. But I wanted to do this alla prima.  I liked painting the feather though.

Maybe I just should've stayed in bed. :-)

30. Cowboy Jim

My Friend Jim 8x10 oi/panel

Today's sketch is a portrait of one my online artist friends, Jim.  He graciously sent me some photos to practice with, and this is a close up from one of those. He is actually riding a beautiful gray  horse in this photo, but I like the  angle of this - looking upward with him framed against the western AZ sky.  I told him it makes him look larger than life! 

The light was tricky  - shadowed from the hat, but at the same time a spot of sun, and also reflected light from his shirt - all of this light bouncing around in various way.  Working from photos too requires some ingenuity, or maybe "make it up as you go along" because the values and color are never spot on like they would be working from real life.. so you gotta sort of choose a color palette and go with it. To top it off, my pr inter is almost out of ink, so I had to work with a really less-than-stellar printed copy of the photo.  

Anyway, it is all good practice - and that's what we're here for, right?

29. Searching for Strays

Searching for Strays 8x10 oil/panel

The other day, I took the pooches, Gibbs and  Marley, for a run in an area I had not explored yet. I wanted to check out some trails and see if I could make a connection with some other routes we like to run.

On the way back to the truck, we, well, actually, the dogs, spooked up some stray cattle.  

We have open range here, which means cows are pretty much all over the place in the national forest.  But usually, by the first of November, the ranchers have moved their herds down to lower pasture, where it won't get as much snow and there will be better grazing for them.  I knew that the guys who graze cattle up in this area had already moved their cows out, and I figured they'd be looking for these strays, who somehow got separated from the rest of the herd.   So I checked the brand on these cows, and called it in to the district office to let them know where to go look for the wayward bovines.

Inspired by that encounter, I decided to paint one of the ranchers going to do just that.  They almost all have cattle dogs of one sort or another, and often drive the cattle on horseback, because the terrain is too severe for any other means!

I tried to remember to take shots of this in progress.. I forgot to take as many as I intended, but did put together a little animation for you to view.  I didn't plan this one out - (not recommended!) so there are numerous changes to the background as I played around with several options.  Mostly, I was using this as a test to see if I could figure out the animation software.  I think I got it, but it took me quite awhile!

YOU WILL HAVE TO CLICK ON THIS IMAGE TO WATCH THE ANIMATION!