Celebrating Ecosystems

I finally received my painting process pictures from my boyfriend's camera and can show them off.

Step one shows me applying the blue masking fluid. I heavily masked this piece to be able to do many layers of washing for the underwater parts of the composition. The nib of my Quikmasque bottle jammed, so poured some out and applied it using a paper clip. Took FOREVER!

Step 2 shows the basic wash over everything that's underwater. the dark blue stuff is the dried masking fluid as I prepare to paint the sky.

Step 3 shows a lot of work darkening the sky and doing a little outline of the underwater animals.

Step 4 shows masking off the underwater animals. the masking fluid is light blue and opaque when it's wet. As it dries it become transparent and a darker blue.

Step 5 I used standard blue painters tape the mask of the large areas and did final darkening in the sky.

Step 6 I have finished the washes underwater and removed all the masking fluid, except on the narwhal's head.

Step 7 I have re-masked certain things (the squid in front of the sperm whale, the stuff in the sand, etc) and finished the land animals. 7a is a close up.

Step 8 the sand is being painted, the ice berg is nearly done and the two big whales (sperm and humpback...haha) are basically complete. the salmon are finished and the belugas are nearly done.

Step 9 is more refining. the masking fluid is off of the squid and I'm starting on the spotted seal and the narwhal.

Step 10 the narwhal is done and I've added shadows, especially on the ice berg.

step 11 I'm working on the northern lights. Without a good reference photo it' really difficult. The rest of the animals are being colored in. the piece is almost done.

Then the final. In the last stages I added highlights with white acrylic (gouach takes too long to build opacity). I also worked heavily on the Aurora Borealis at home with a photo on my computer. I used the same colors in the aurora as reflections on the white objects (ice berg, snow, polar bears and arctic fox).

This piece was much less complicated than the Puget Sound piece, but it wasn't as familiar.


Taking the challenge concept much farther, I doodled up a thumbnail of the African savanna. The problem is that Africa has so many different ecosystems (though we usually only think of the major three) and Africa is home to mostly mega fauna...aka BIG animals. While doing my research, I decided that there are too many species to fit in just one piece. Because African plains are basically earth and sky, I did a horizontal composition. I also decided to make it a triptych (a three paneled composition made from 3 compositions). The left most panel represents the desert which transitions into the grassland dotted with Acacia trees and with a river ruing through it. the in the right panel the plains transition into a rain forest. If you look at the sketch, in the rain forest area there are more animals than in the entire Amazon piece! right now the final line art for the desert piece is done and I'm starting the center panel. I'd like to have the line arts for the whole thing done before i leave for Australia.

I have a concept for my Australia piece in my head already and I also intend on doing the Everglades soon thereafter.

A feast for your eyes!

Wow! It's been nearly a year since I posted something here and well, for those who actually look at this thing, I've got an eye feast for you!

First up, referencing this post: http://rummyhunny.blogspot.com/2007/08/arts.html are the finished line art and colored pencils for the Daly's painter girl. Robin Daly, miss (Mrs.?) co-president/co-owner of the company loved it and mentioned it in her own blog. (If you read through it, I made the Daly's logo snowflake on a challenge from her during the extremely slow winter months and Steve the lumberjack (our stock guy) suggested the sign idea, fyi). http://tintedperspective.blogspot.com/2007/10/isnt-this-pretty.html I intend to *eventually* do an oil *GASP* painting of it, with a model so everything looks super awesome. I'll actually use a ruler and circle guides too! If I butter Robin up to buy it, it'll have the Daly's text seen in the sketch. If not, it'll just say 'color' or 'Iris' which is the Greek goddess of the rainbow.


Secondly, referencing this post: http://rummyhunny.blogspot.com/2006/02/poop-smith.html is the final...as in FINISHED painting! The initial inspiration for it was the Venezuela themed show at Coastal kitchen. After that it sat until I brought it out for the Peru show this last january. Since then, I've dilegently worked on it during my lunches at Daly's. It took about 30mins a day, 4 days a week, for about 6 weeks. That's about 12 hours of just painting. No idea on how much time the sketching, drawing, and research took. But I love it! I'll be going to Washing D.c/New York later this month and I'm going to take a copy to the National Geographic Society headquarters and try to get them to publish it. They wouldn't have to pay me. I would just die a happy death knowing I had been published in a National Geographic magazine (even the one for kids).

Following it are the sketches for my next two 'ecosystem pieces' as I'm calling them. The first I renamed "Amazonia" (which is within Peru, Venezuela, Brazil and some other South american countries).

Lastly (actually, I have no clue at what order the picture upload html thingy generates the thumbnails, so hopefully you can tell what's what) is one of the pieces currently IN the Peru show at coastal Kitchen. It's of different kinds of pepers. Crap. I can't remember which of the spicy ones is what! there's a bell peper, a jalapeno, a serrano, a valencia? and something else with a 'b' in it. It's watercolor, which I love.

For other news that isn't quite so art related, look me up on LJ and Myspace. Sofar, 2008 is off to a great start creatively. Hopefully the momentum will stay up!