Underpainting!!

I have finally gotten round to doing some under painting on the snow leopard. I am making it more saturated on purpose so that I can build the fur up in layers from the dark below to highlights above. I have still to tackle the eye. I am finding it quite difficult to mix colours correctly. I takes me a few attempts.

The Beginning of 2 and hopefully the completion of 2!

I have abandoned the tiger as I really just saw it as a practice (learning) piece. I finally got my delivery of the professional acrylics and from now on I will be using the golden fluid brand of acrylic and ampersand gessoboard. I have spoke to an amazing artist who does outstanding work with acrylics and she has given me loads of help and advice! :) I am extremely lucky to be in contact with her.

I can't remember if I mentioned but all of my scratchboards works are done on the Ampersand brand. (The best!!)

The title of this post says it all really. I am hoping to finish two scratchboard pieces the Asiatic Lion and the Peacock. I have an update on the peacock and have just started doing the iconic feathers and I am trying to finish the stripy white and black feathers am not sure what they are called. I have found a new place to take pictures of my works, so I don't need to use photoshop to get rid of glare!

One of the new pieces I have started is a close up of an Amur Leopard. The reference photo is my own and was taken at Edinburgh zoo. The piece is only 5x7. This is the piece which I will be using to see just how far I can push scratchboard! It will not be coloured and will be left black and white. So far I believe that it is my best work!

The whole board:

An extreme close up of the eye much greater in size than in real life:

In addition to the Amur leopard I have started a leopard in acrylic. This time a snow leopard and the reference photo is from the fantastic photographer and friend Tambako the Jaguar from Flickr. This too is a 5x7. I started small since this is my first serious attempt at acrylics. It will be painted with golden acrylics and on ampersand gessoboard. So far I have just strengthened the transfer with a mixture of carbon black and burnt sienna. I will be starting the underpainting soon. Hopefully this will turn out better than the tiger. :)

Painting??

I have another small update on the tiger. I am just experimenting with glazes since this is my first and practice acrylic piece. Therefore I have only started detailing the left eye (our left). I have long ways to go yet!

First Acrylic!

I decided to post my first acrylic. I have not used very good material as I just wanted to get a feel for them first. I have now ordered the proper materials.

This is the first time I have ever used a brush and acrylics and it is on canvas. I have established that I dislike canvas due to the texture as it does not allow for fine details. The inexpensive paints I have are not even permanent they dissolve with water. So I am really looking forward to my new acrylic supplies arriving.

The reference photo is from the great photographer and artist Cathy Sheeter. I have made it a close up of my favourite animal the tiger.

I have just begun detailing the left eye and the rest is in the ugly underpainting stage. I may or may not finish this because I don't want to put so much effort on cheap materials to get a rubbish result. It is 9x5 inches.

And some green!

I have added some more colour to the peacock and I like how it is turning out. The greens have some blues and yellows in them and I have started scratching the iconic peacock feathers.

I have also started my first acrylic and will post here if it turns out.

I know I said there was not going to be any scratchboard in a while but I had an urge to do a 5x7 so I will post that too when finished. I like the idea of working on different pieces to retain a sense of freshness.

Feeling a little blue!

Another update on the peacock.

I am looking forward to getting this finished soon!

Still going...

Another small update with the peacock this time showing the whole board.

Am still trying to think whether or not I should include a background. I don't want it to look pasted on and if I did include a background I don't really have a clue on what I should do.:(

At the minute I am in a bit of an artistic slump! I am determined to finish this piece and then dabble in other mediums and arts such as photography and music. I will take a break from scratchboard even though I have so many ideas in my head. I still have to do a horse in scratch and I got an awesome reference picture from Edinburgh zoo of the Sumatran tiger which is begging to be done. I also want to go small and try a 5x7 with an intense amount of work with colour and a lot of rescratching to see just how far I can push myself. This is all daunting but with help from some good friends on wetcanvas I have decided to take a little break. I can say that no matter what medium I decide to dabble in, I will lean towards realism, I just can't do abstract art because I am terrible at it. The best compliment that anyone could give me is saying that my piece looks like a picture.

I also thought that I should include that art has always been one of my passions in life and in particular wildlife art. Throughout school I have always drew animals and aim to display their beauty through my pieces. However, at school I was forced to do still life. I liked it but the finished piece did not make me feel proud or as proud as a finished animal piece would. Therefore I returned to wildlife art within a short space of time and have been pursuing it since. I hope to continue doing wildlife art in the future and maybe even try becoming a member of wildlife art societies.