Pet Commission

I've done some work on this piece since this photo was taken, adjusting the colors a bit, tweaking the values, and adding texture. This dog belongs to a friend and, quite frankly, contains more personality most people. I really want to make sure this painting honors him.

Background problems

I knew this painting was going to give me grief.

In a fit of mad inspiration a few days ago, I covered the entire background in watercolor ground. After letting it sit for a few days to cure, I threw in this background wash with granulating paints.

I added another, darker wash this afternoon. I will have to do at least one more dark wash, and probably another after with some 'warm' washes to add in sunlight and stuff. Then I'll still have to adjust the peahen, or she'll be too warm for the background.

Still alive...

...I swear.

The drive to get shit done is hard for me to come by lately, and when I do sit down to paint, I'm easily distracted. Despite myself, I am still getting some work done.

The heron painting is finally finished, you can head on over to my website to see the finished product. In real life, the bright leaves in the foreground almost glow, hence the name. This painting is not very large (10.25 by 14 inches or so), but it took well over twenty hours to paint.

Otherwise I've been doing a lot of writing (not as much as I should), a lot of reading (not procrastinating, I swear), and a lot of birdwatching. Saw two northern harriers last week, which brings my lifelist up to 127 bird species.

I plan to reread a lot of books this year, particularly those I haven't read since I started writing more than three years ago. I went through Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy a few weeks ago. I still love them but recognized a few aspects in them that aren't perfect. Vi still annoys the hell out of me. I'm not terribly surprised. And Wise Man's Fear finally came out in mass market paperback, so now I'm going to reread Name of the Wind and then get caught up in that series. It will be my first time reading it since I started writing myself, so I'm curious as to how it's going to live up to my memory of. I loved it the first time around.

I've also started working on the peacock painting again. It's large and unwieldy and it's definitely going to be one of those where I am constantly trying to balance detail without overworking the whole damn thing.

More layering

The background values are finally getting dark enough. It needs a little more foliage depth in some places but the value is the important thing. Finally took the mask off the heron. It's starting to come together.

Setbacks.

I didn't think this piece would take as long, but I've been having some bad days. Anyway. Finally got all the red base layers on, and overlaid almost all of it with a coat of winsor green. There was much more bleeding than I expected. A rather discouraging moment.

Not quite willing to give up, I painted in all the dark areas, one by one, and then the lighter leaves. It took a few hours (and this piece is not big). The paper is already starting to act a little rag-like, which means it is sometimes difficult to leave sharp lines and edges, because the paint likes to bleed more even on dry paper.

Now I have to adjust the lights and darks, adding detail and texture until I have the contrast and value pattern that I want. Then I'll take the mask off and paint in the heron.

Three hours in

I have not played around with complimentary base layers in some time. This is what it looks like after about three hours of painting with permanent rose. A little bit on yellow on the foreground leaves as well. I think it's time for green, but I don't think the red is dark enough in places. I will give it a fresh look tomorrow.

Patience

This is what is looked like last week. I am kind of broken right now and can't work on anything so big. I am sure of only one thing. Rendering all that grass is going to take me bloody forever. I'm definitely behind on my one painting a month goal. Still got nine months to catch up, though.