In Black and White

Happy Monday everyone!

I'm struggling with being sick. My son came down with a cold/flu thing and I thought it would miss me. I was wrong. I can't decide if the worst part is the coughing or the horrible headaches it gives me. Or a low-grade fever that just makes me want to lay on the ground and stare at the ceiling.

So, I haven't been all that productive. I did finish my black and white piece, however, so here are some progress to finish pictures:

Just starting in on the figures after filing in the back

Sky filled, working on the wolf

All the black and white is done, now it's ready for tiny hints of color. I didn't expect to add a key, I actually thought the dress would be in her hand, but it worked out very differently.

"Forward" 8x10 inches acrylic on canvas panel. Iridescent paint on the moon, key, pendant, and wolf's eyes.

I learned an awful lot doing this painting. I learned that I haven't painted in a monochromatic way since college and doing value studies, and that it's a lot harder than I remember. I think that's probably because you can create so many values with different colors easier than if you are forced to use just one. It was good for me to do this.

I also learned to "lighten up" on fur. Normally, I think I overwork fur and add lots of precise fur-type details. It makes an animal look sharp, sharper than they probably need to. I forced (and I mean that it took some real struggle for me to let go) myself to back the heck off and go "soft" with it. The wolf looks SO much better. He looks like you would want to pet him. You can see on his tail where things are still a bit sharp and see the difference. Letting go was seriously hard for me, but I realize that in order to improve my technique, I need to do this.

So, I'm working on applying the softer fur technique to my holiday cats. This is a painting I sketched out and fully intended to finish LAST year, and here we are a year later. When it comes to art, I feel like the year is just so short! When it comes to other things (like waiting to move or lose weight) it's a thousand years long.

The original sketch on canvas 2013

progress made 2013, fireplace

more progress, 2013, finishing fireplace

And then I under-painted the stockings a little and went through a bit of art ADD, and didn't go back until now. *sigh* I know, I know. But here is this year's progress:

Working on the stockings

mostly done with the stockings, although looking at it now, I'm trying to decide whether to add sticking to the patches on them. I probably will...

And here is where it literally sits this morning. I just snapped the photo. I've decided that both cats are going to be black and white. I think it works best for the painting.

So, while I'm working on the cats, I'm trying very hard to make them soft. That's my mantra. Soft. Make them soft!

In other news, I woke up to a very light snow! I'm feeling very much in the holiday mood! My goal is to only paint fun holiday paintings for a while! Smaller ones than this, that take less time hopefully, so I'll have some to put in my shop! I just want to feel like I'm accomplishing something, I guess. I should have started the holiday paintings much earlier than I did!

I hope you are all doing well!