acrylic on Aquabord
8" x 10"
© Xan Blackburn
I think I'm done with Stella. I hope Lynn agrees!
As it's Memorial Day weekend Saturday, my husband and dogs are all wanting dinner, and I'm rather hungry myself, I'll just show you some progress pics to show you how I got to this point. Enjoy!
acrylic on Aquabord
8" x 10"
© Xan Blackburn
Stella, the sleeping beauty! Okay, she's not sleeping in this portrait, but her owner tells me that she sleeps a lot, and sent me several photos of her in that state. Sounds like a greyhound to me! (Contrary to popular belief, greyhounds sleep a lot more than they run. A lot more. Like, mostly, they sleep.) But, I couldn't resist this pose, even though it shows her being awake. At least with this portrait, her owners can imagine what she looks like standing up when the memory grows dim between naps.
The image above shows where her portrait stands at quitting time, Friday evening. I'm seeing a pattern of slow starts, and quick finishes, so far. My budget of 2 days/portrait for this marathon seems about right.
The panel I'm using for this portrait is called Aquabord, which is an archival panel with a clay surface that has a texture and absorbent quality rather like watercolor paper. I've used it before and really enjoyed it. This time, it wanted to fight with me, but I've taken the upper hand. It is too absorbent for what I wanted to do here, but once sealed with a layer of acrylic, it behaves much better. I probably should have chosen one of the other panels, but ... oh well!
cropped, and altered in photoshop slightly
The reference image I chose had good lighting, and was well-focussed, showed her entire face, and gave a good sense of her (waking) expression. You can see her dark brindle markings, and her glossy coat, as well as her deep burnt-orange eye color.
As usual, in Photoshop, I decide what I want to do with the background, and alter the photo as necessary to make a good portrait in the proportions we're working in. For Stella's rich, dark brindle, a mahogany-dark background really set her off nicely.
acrylic on panel
8" x 10"
This type of panel requires being flushed with water, to allow air bubbles trapped in the surface of the clay to escape, and to manage the absorbency a bit. I almost forgot that, but they handily put a little "tip" sheet in the packaging, thank goodness. Flushed, allowed to dry a bit, and the drawing transferred, I decided to start laying in the background, first. I thought it would help me keep the balance of tonal contrast right if I had a good sense of the background while working. It will take several layers, but I wanted to start with this raw sienna, to warm the later layers of burnt umber from within, rather like Stella's warm rusty stripes alternating with the almost-black stripes on her coat.
Once I had a couple layers down in the background, I started in with her eyes, but the one on the right wasn't quite working, and the Payne's gray seemed too cool, so I left off for the moment, and started the underpainting in raw umber. Beginning to layer up the shadows and darker tones.
Once I switched to the raw umber instead of the Payne's gray, it started to come together better. Plenty to do tomorrow, but we're off to the races, now.
acrylic on Aquabord
8" x 10"
© Xan Blackburn
I'm hoping for a view of the meteors tonight. I hope you got a chance to see them, too. Back to work tomorrow!
acrylic on panel, 8" x 10"
© Xan Blackburn
Delicate Luki! I really enjoyed building up these hot and cool layers to create this pup's portrait. It feels like that may capture her personality, in a way, maybe echoing her own internal contrasts.
I only took a couple pictures besides the final scan today, but I think you can see enough to give you an idea how it went. I'll go with the tried and true, "a picture is worth a thousand words."
Tomorrow, Eliza is passing her turn to the next person ready to go (we'll get back to her soon), so attention Lynn! 😉
I'm pleased with this stage, though I had hoped to be a bit further along by quitting time tonight. Well, life, in all it's variability, will make hash of the best of plans, eh?
Here's a quick run-through of how we got here.
Luki is a delicate thing, a bit shy, a little un-sure. Of the reference photos, I had to choose this one, for the lovely lighting, her alert gaze, pricked ears, slender muzzle and cautious mouth.
As usual, I took it into Photoshop, and experimented with the background, composition, lighting, etc., until I was content.
Once I got my pallet cleaned up (so cathartic!) after Sadie's portrait ...
my painting area all set up ...
and my studio companions in their places ...
I’m laughing at myself right now! I spent days getting ready for this, and am only now realizing I didn’t ask for “breed” or even “species” in my sign-up form! Most of you said something in your description, anyway. Well, it will all come clear when the pictures start coming in.
Those of you who made it in, get those reference photos ready to send! I’ll be emailing you all shortly.
Here’s the order at this point:
Wow. Well, once I got rolling, this just went like a flash! Isn’t it funny, ha ha, that the painting part of this portrait actually went quickly, but all the hair-pulling, sketching, sighing and laying in bed at night imagining the painting took days! I should be used to that, but there ya go.
I have to show you some details, as I really enjoy how there’s both opaque and translucent layers, strokes showing over/under strokes. I like the life, the potential for motion, the undiluted immediacy of the overall effect.
Okay, I know I didn’t invent impressionistic painting, but it’s always seemed oddly out of my reach ’til now. Allow me my moment of rejoicing, eh?
I do have a few donations I need to be doing. Okay, a whole truck-load of donations! One is a graphic illustrating the different sighthound shapes for easier identification by non-sighthound-savvy rescue volunteers (for Team Inch). That should be interesting. Then, there’s the Hope for Hounds collar design for 2014. And a top-secret project for Kindred Hearts Transport Connection.
So, yeah, no problem with idle hands, here!
