Winnie the Pooh's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Winnie the Pooh!  Well, actually it is the author of Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne's birthday today, making it National Winnie the Pooh Day! 

 

Here is a little study that I did of Winnie the Pooh that is part of a larger painting I am working on:) This is an oil painting done on cardboard.  I chose to put in the background  some of my favorite books from my own bookshelf.  These are books that my children and I have read together in bed so they hold fond memories for us.  Inkspell, Despereaux, Stuart Little, The Hobbit and of course Winnie the Pooh!  

Enjoy!

Tschuss

Color Finishes

So here is the moment you have all been waiting for……my color finishes or final art.  At least it's final for now until I get some feedback that makes me decide to change them:)  My professor helped me chose the 4 strongest compositions from my dummy book and those are the ones I finished first.  I had done the cover illustration last semester so I include that with these since it set the color pallet and tone for the artwork.  As I mentioned before, I have three more I want to finish off.  They are the "cow" scene, the "dog and squirrel from above" scene and the "boy flying" scene.  You can check these out in my color studies post which preceded this post.  I figure these additional scenes will give me a nice variety of angles, perspectives, and characters to chose from for the final 5 that I will use in my final thesis.

These are mixed media paintings done on illustration board.  They all measure 12"H x 22"W.  I little bit about my process…

I transfer the drawing onto the illustration board with graphite.  Then I paint in local colors with watercolor to get the values and approximate colors.  I know I can always change these a bit so it helps me to see whether I have made them too saturated or too light.  Then I put an oil wash over the whole painting and remove it with tissue in areas where I don't want it, paying attention to shadows and form. When it's dry I go back in with oil paint preserving what I like from the underpainting and covering up or enhancing areas where I want to draw the eye.  I then use prisma color pencil to add the fine details I can't get with the brush.

So here they are!  Let me know your thoughts.  I'll post the next three when I have them done.

Johnny's Dog Abby

Do any of you use the services of Schwan's Frozen Food?  Well, we do.  It's a company that comes to your house with a truck full of frozen food and they sell you meats, sides, desserts, etc. right on the spot.  The food tastes good and is very convenient, but is a little expensive because of the service.  We use it for those times we are in a pinch and don't know what to make for dinner.  What winds up happening is that you get to know your Schwan's guy pretty well, since they visit your house every two weeks.  You start to know them and they you.  Our most recent Schwan's guy is John and he loves golden retrievers.  We have a golden retreiver named Buddy and John loves Buddy.  He brings Buddy treats every time he comes to the door.  Recently John let us know that his golden retriever died and he was very sad.  I felt really bad for him.  Then, a few weeks later, he let us know that he and his wife got a new golden retriever puppy!  He has been so happy to have this puppy that he showed me a bunch of pictures of her that he had on his Iphone.   Now every time he shows up, I start the conversation with an inquirey into how Abby is doing and he proceeds to show me new pictures her.  One picture was particularly cute so I asked him to forward it to me.  I decided to paint it for him in oil paints on cardboard in a penture en l'essence style.  I can't wait to give it to him.  I think he comes again this week on Wednesday!  I have the picture right at the front door so it will be the first thing he sees when he walks up!  Here is John's dog Abby....