Cheetah In Acrylics - Step 1

Planning Stage & Blocking In
Canvas Size: 16" x 20"

This will be my first attempt at painting an animal, one I am sure will be filled with its own unique challenges.

I have reserved a 2 inch border that will later be painted with an African pattern to simulate a wooden frame.

For this painting I began with very few markings prior to laying in the paint for the blocking stage, relying on shaping the image with the paint brush rather than a pencil. I used a watered down colour to lay in the first shapes, then later applied a slightly heavier layer.

Goals for This Piece:

1. Depict accurate proportions in the animal's structure.
2. Achieve depth within the eyes.
3. Attempt to achieve realism in the texture of the fur.

Nude Man and Woman Embracing - Step 2

Step 2

After several months' hiatus, I have finally gotten back to the joy of painting.

During the second stage of this painting I have focused on achieving a more consistent overall skin tone for each of the figures, while bringing in more definition for muscle tone and skeletal structure.

Although this stage is not complete, I feel the painting has begun to come alive. The female figure still requires more work on the skin tone consistency over the abdomen area and more realistic definition of muscle tone in the arm, while the hand of the man requires restructuring of the hand.

Oil Painting of Nude Man and Woman Embracing

The Planning Stage:
As I began planning this painting, I knew I could easily find the body out of proportion due the much larger scale of the canvass - 48" x 24". In order to accurately transfer the images I decided to lay a grid over the photo. I divided the image and the canvass into eight equal blocks. From there I focused on the negative spaces within each grid block, recreating them on the canvass. The transfer was quite successful with some exceptions, the male's hand is out of proportion, his pectoral muscle needs to be elongated and the mouth needs to be less robot-like. I'm sure other elements will pop out as I progress through the painting.

Note for next time: Use much lighter pencil pressure as the lead is difficult to remove from the canvass surface and requires a thicker layer of paint to fully cover.

The Blocking In Stage:
As I began to block in the forms I realized I had not mixed enough of the same colour - yet again. Due to the size of the canvass, a large quantity of paint will be needed for the base colour. Therefore, I plan on storing a large amount in a small air tight jar to be used within a few days.

When beginning a new painting, one of the things that our art instructor, Cristian, emphasized was to ask ourselves what we wanted to achieve with this painting, what are our goals. So, from here on in I will share with you my personal goals for each new piece. I feel this will help in the direction the painting will take, the feel or atmosphere I am trying to achieve.

Goals For This Piece:

1. achieve a soft, sensual feel
2. use larger, looser brush strokes, with less blending
3. gain a better understanding of the formation of the human body

Merwoman in OIls - Part 4

She is now complete. After many hours and many adjustments I have finally completed the mystical merwoman inspired by my daughter's novel.

This week I modified the reflection in the water keeping it somewhat a duplicate of the face but much more blurred in order to keep the focus on the violet eyes.

I also spent more time on the reflections within the pupils, adding subtle yellows and blues to provide more interest and to create a more defined outline of the girl on the shore and the dead trees behind her.

CHALLENGING: the water reflection. I wasn't sure how much detail to add in the water. I definitely didn't want to detract from the main face so I tried to achieve a blurred impression of the main subject. I added the paint a bit more generously then used a wide dry brush to gently sweep horizontally across the painting in both directions, cleaning the excess paint from the brush with a dry cloth in between sweeps.

REWARDING: The eye reflections really came to life with the fine tuning including subtle colours that enhanced the images within the eyes. I used a finer brush with lose strokes to create a feel of fogginess.

NEXT PROJECT: While painting the live model (Man Relaxing) I discovered an interest in painitng the human form. During this past year in art classes at Art Mad, I have realized there is no better way to learn something new than to tackle a challenging painting head on, to steup out of your comfort zone and explore something new. Therefore, this next painting will take it a step further. I have found a beautiful nude photo of a man and woman embracing tenderly. I will begin transferring the image onto a 48" x 24" canvass this week and hope to lay in the blocking by the end of week.

Merwoman in Oils - Part 3

What began as an 'easy' project very quickly turned into huge challenges; first the symmetry of the eyes, then the reflections within the pupils, then the reflection within the water. Oh and lets not forget the correct placement of the hair.

In order to make the eyes pop I applied a golden yellow to the lid which complemented the purple quite nicely. The deep green of the hair seemed to enhance the translucency of the skin and frame the eyes with a bit more drama. The Prussian Blue and Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue with a touch of Lamp Black created a rich deep green perfect for the hair.

Although challenging, I've thoroughly enjoyed working on this piece - it has been rewarding to tackle a subject I would never have considered even a year ago. Not to mention, this is my first completely original piece. Yes I did use several photo references in order to gain realistic perspective, but the image was straight from my imagination.

Now that the main image is complete, I will work on refining the reflection within the water...as you can see the reflections of the eyes are not quite right, and the hair needs to be softly blurred/distorted.

My daughter is immensely pleased with the outcome and I am thrilled to bring one of her character's to life. A special project through and through.

REWARDING: The hair is much more pleasing than I had anticipated, and I was able to avoid the need to paint in ears...YES!
CHALLENGING: eye reflections, water reflections

Merwoman in Oils - Part 2

With everything now fully blocked in I began working on deepening the intensity of the eyes and adding layers of colour in hopes of achieving a more translucent appearance in the skin.

My first attempt at the water resulted in an unattractive greenish blue with brown that was completely unappealing. In my second attempt I pulled out a new tube of Prussian Blue - a vibrant, deep blue that worked quite well.

Now that the eyes are generally the same in size and shape, I need to tweak the pupil of the left eye and add in the shadow reflections to bring them to life.

Cristian also pointed out the need for the water to follow the natural contour of the face (around the cheeks and nose). So I will work on creating this important aspect effectively.

With only one class left I'm hoping to spend several hours on the painting this week in order to complete it next class.

REWARDING: The depth in the skin tones, the blue of the water
CHALLENING: achieving symmetry in the pupils.

Merwoman in Oils - Part 1

The focus of our next painting is an original work inspired by a piece of literature. The diversity of the class' selections ranged from spiritual interpretation to fantasy. My source of inspiration is near and dear to my heart. My daughter is in the process of writing her first fantasy novel and I felt pulled to create a scene from the pages of her story.

The subject I have chosen is a violet-eyed Merwoman with intense, mesmerizing eyes that reflectively mirror the world around her. She is slowly emerging from the lake water while observing the main character on the shoreline.

Challenging: Since the eyes are the main focal point of this painting it will be crucial to create exact symmetry in order to draw the viewer into the reflections on her iris and pupil that will portray the world around her.

Rewarding: I am very pleased with the result thus far. I have tweaked the shape of the eyes from my original drawing and will need to carefully construct the same shape. But, overall, I am pleased with the progress.

HINT: Our instructor, Cristian Aluas, suggested first drawing the eye on tracing paper in the exact shape and size. Then the image was transferred to the canvass on the right, flipped over and duplicated on the left to ensure symmetry. Also, working from reference photos definitely helps to provide the sense of realism that I could not have drawn out from memory.