Second Attempt at a Grizzly Bear

The first grizzly bear had an accident with my airbrush which decided to splutter and spit blobs of paint out. The result was a bear that looked like he had a bad case of measles.
I decided to paint him this time using acrylic on prepared mdf board.
I haven't got very far yet as I've had a busy few weeks.
My youngest son graduates tomorrow and the ceremony is in London at the Royal Albert Hall.
My solo exhibition starts on the 3rd of November and I have to deliver everything to the venue next Monday and then I'm demonstrating at Art Materials Live at the NEC for four days in November.
Plus I have to fit in some blood tests and an opticians visit in the next couple of weeks. However once I get to the middle of November I have nothing else planned for the rest of the year so should return to posting on a more regular basis.

Do You Feel More Emotionally Attached to a Painting if You have Seen the Animal in its Environment?

 

.I'm currently working on a grizzly bear, mixed media on Arches hot press watercolour paper

Whilst on holiday in Canada I was lucky enough to see grizzly bears in the wild although not close enough to get good photographs. However a couple of days after seeing them in the wild we visited the British Columbia wildlife park. They had two young grizzly bears, a brother and sister who had arrived at the park when their mother was killed. I took a lot of photographs of the bears interacting and doing their own thing. Eventually I want to paint a large picture of them play fighting.
As I've never painted a bear I decided to start with one bear in a straight forward pose.
I was drawn to this photo both because of the bears expression and the lighting.
I'm not planning on adding a background although I might airbrush some blurry foliage later.

As I'm working on the bear I can remember the details of the day, but more than that I can picture the wild grizzlies in their natural environment. I certainly have a stronger emotional attachment to this painting than some of my others.
I had already seen grizzlies in captivity and one distant view of a wild bear on previous trips to Canada but this was the first time I'd watched one for quite a long time behaving in a totally natural manner which to a greater or lesser extent captive animals don't.
It's leading me to think that not only should I use my own reference material but in order to give something of myself to the work perhaps I should only draw or paint animals or birds I have seen in the wild.
That doesn't mean I'll never paint another tiger or snow leopard but perhaps less often than in the past.

An Acrylic Puzzle

I'm going to paint all the background on this one before I add the animal so that I don't get a halo effect.
It's 16 x 20 acrylic on board.
I prepared my own board by adding several coats of gesso and sanding between each coat. The finished surface is very smooth which is how I like it.
Once I'd finished with the gesso I painted a mid grey all over which I find better to work on than the white of the gesso.

This will be a small animal on a large background, any guesses what it might be?

Wolf - Part 4

The second of our bitches is now in season so the chaos deepens. At least it sets the scene for painting the wolf when Rio and Clinton are both howling in the background.

Wolf - Part 3

I've done some more on the wolf, the next stage is adding some background with pan pastels. I'd been hoping to do that today but real life got in the way. Roma is coming into season so Rio and Clinton have decided that killing one another is the way to win her heart. This does not create a happy and relaxed atmosphere, quite the opposite.

Brown Hare - Part 2

Yesterday I picked some of the orange poppies I have flowering in my garden. I'm considering adding one or two in the background using very soft watercolour washes as they are more or less the same colour as the hare's eyes.
It's a good job I picked them yesterday as there is heavy rain here in Yorkshire this morning and most of the petals are now ruined.

Racoons Continued

I'm making slow progress on the three racoons, I've covered about a third of the board and worked some of that up to about 90%
I'm enjoying working from my own photograph as it brings back memories of the day we spent in Stanley Park, Vancouver in the summer. It is far easier not to slavishly follow the photograph when I can remember other details about the scene from actually having been there.
I have used reference material from other sources (always with permission) and I will continue to do so but that obviously restricts what can be done with the resulting artwork.
Most juried exhibitions and competitions now have a ruling that states entries need to be based an the artists own reference material, which is why I now have thousands of my own photographs stored on backup drives.

Three Racoons in Acrylic

This is the large (for me) acrylic that I'm working on.
It is about 8 x 16 inches on mdf that I have applied several coats of gesso tinted with acrylic to.
I haven't finished the top corner I just wanted to draw the first racoon in to give myself a reference point.

Last summer while on holiday in Canada I got lots of great reference photographs of racoons. In this one there are three sitting on a log, they couldn't have come up with a better pose.

The local joiners are willing to cut my boards for me which makes it easier to consider sizes that are not readily available. It is also much cheaper than buying prepared board and I'm finding I prefer board to canvas.

Puma Finished

I've finished my puma.

Following the workshop I concentrated on form and darkened the right side.
It's 10 x 8 done in watercolour.

Amur Tiger Continued

I'm still printing although I did sneak outside for a little while today to enjoy some sunshine.

Progress is still slow but I need to have him finished by the end of the weekend.

Making a Captive Animal Wild

One of my pet niggles is seeing a really nice painting of a wild animal with a background that makes it obvious the reference material has been taken in a zoo. The number of lions, tigers, giraffes, meerkats etc that I've seen painted with a background of vegetation not native to the animal is amazing.
I know this might not matter to some people, it's just something I don't like.
So if my reference is of a captive animal I try to incorporate a background consistent with the animals natural habitat using the following steps:-

1. Make sure I know what (if any) subspecies the animal is as this might affect the range. For instance the tiger I'm currently drawing is an Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) I know the scientific classification doesn't matter but I have a particular interest in the classification of mammals dating back to my University days, sad I know :(
2. Have a look at the range of the animal and if there's a choice decide on the habitat I'm going to use.
3.Decide what sort of background (if any ) I want to incorporate.
4. Using my reference books, DVD's and the internet look at as many photographs of my chosen area I can find until I feel comfortable with the setting.

I took the photograph of the Tiger at a Wildlife Park in the South Lakes, hopefully I can add some vegetation more appropriate to the Russian Far East.

Tiger in Mixed Media

I'll post a progress shot of the lion tomorrow; it's almost finished.

I'm also working on this tiger in coloured pencil, acrylic and watercolour, approximately 12 x 8 on Fabriano Artistico.

I'm still busy printing cards and prints ready for Patchings Art Exhibition, I could do with each day being 48 hours long at the moment.

Missed the Deadline

I've missed my first goal for the year, I didn't make the dealine for Wildlife Artist of the Year.

A couple of unexpected things happened last week which gave me less time for art but I should have started earlier, after all I have known the closing date for entries for the last twelve months.

This is the start of my Snow Leopard, it's mixed media on Arches paper approx 20 x 18 ins. The photograph isn't very good I'll take a better one in daylight tomorrow.I used my own photograph taken at Marwell Zoo a couple of years ago.

I'm sure I'll find something else to enter it in later in the year.

Red Fox continued

Just a quick update.

Red Fox - Take 2

I have been getting more and more disatisfied with my fox. I'm not sure if it was the ear, the muzzle, the colour, I just don't know what it was I didn't like about him. He looked more like a Corgi than a fox to me.

After spending several more hours on him I did what I should have done when the doubts set in, I started again. I know paintings go through an ugly stage but I'm usually right when I decide it's not the ugly stage, it's the terminal stage. So he was terminated and I started on Arches paper rather than board, same size, same reference. I'm much happier with him, I will add the dark background, probably after I do the eyes. The fur this time looks more like my work and he is already looking more 3D.

By the way you aren't seeing things, I'm still having trouble with his ear, I'm thinking of making hiom a battle scarred fox :)

Rather than doing another post I thought I'd just add the update. You can't really see the colours in the background, but they are there, honestly.

Fox and Kingfisher

I'm starting to build some depth in the coat with layers of acrylic, still a long way to go. I'll add some glazes next.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to capture a pair of Kingfishers with my camera. I've never before been close enough to get usable photographs, yesterday I got around 100. Some are a little blurred but all are usable. Here are a couple.

Red Fox continued

I've had very little time this week but am managing to put in a little time on the Red Fox.
Some of it is looking a little flat bgut that should start to improve with the next layers.

Lion in Pastel - part 2

I've been working on my lion. I did take time out yesterday to go to Martin Mere and then visit a friends litter of Rough Collie pups.

The lion looks a little like he's just been to the hairdressers, but I'll change that later.

Martin Mere was cold but I got some good photographs of a male Sparrowhawk. It landed on the ground and stayed for quite a long time with its feet in a shallow pond.

The puppies were lovely, our friends consistently breed quality puppies and these were no exception.

Reference Material and Acrylic Tiger

I am still painting a tiger in acrylic, but I have changed tigers and am now working on drafting film rather than gessobord.
I airbrushed the background using several layers of liquid acrylic.

I have had several questions recently on how to find reference material to paint or draw wildlife. Obviously the ideal is to use your own photographs. I have been steadily building up a large portfolio of animal photographs from visits to various zoo's and wildlife parks throughout the UK. I also took almost 2000 photographs whilst on holiday in Canada and the US last year. The problem with captive animals is that they are often fatter than their wild counterparts and can show untypical behaviour due to being caged.

Sometimes though you want to paint an animal you haven't got a suitable photograph of, or a pose you haven't got, or you want to make sure you set it in its natural habitat. What do you do then?

You can try websites which offer high quality photographs for a fee. Two good websites that I have used are;-

Fotolia and

Dreamstime

Do however make sure that you purchase the correct licence for the intended use. If you want to use in any derivative work, which includes art, then you need to purchase the extended licence.

If you see a photograph you like while browsing the web you can email the photographer and ask for permission to use it. You need to specify exactly what you intend to use the photograph for and ask what compensation they require if they agree to let you use it. If you think that in the future you would like to sell the finished artwork, or have prints made, then again you need to detail that in your initial query.

If you intend to paint a background with the animal in a natural setting, then what works best for me is to watch as many DVD's or television programmes about the animal as possible. If I see some foliage etc that I think I could use, I freeze the picture and sketch the background. I also use books and magazine to research the animals natural habitat.