Jan 15 - Acrylic Lesson for the Art Show at the Dog Show

This is the lesson painting for the 12 x 16 acrylic that is entered in the Art Show at the Dog Show. For the next three days, I'll be depicting a Welsh Springer Spaniel. Yet again I'm focusing on the landscape being a strong supporter of the dog in action, flushing a pheasant.

A rough sketch starts me out in acrylics, done over the burnt orange underpainting, choosing a warm because of the predominance of the Cool Box Colors as the painting progresses. I do a cover-the-canvas every time to get rid of the white. I see so many paintings with those itty bitty white spots showing through--very distracting to a trained eye. By getting rid of the white, I have a surface that unifies if/when any of that warm peeks through.

The dynamics of the design are already apparent if you see those vertical strokes supporting the action in the center--just like the curtains on a stage. I'll be using a modified familiar background from another, earlier painting to make this get off my brushes faster. I will be looking for that "aha" moment when you recognize it--and when I paint to deadlines, I don't try to break new ground (except for "Guardian"). One thing about this, I have painted so much, that the repertroire of materials available is vast. If you haven't painted much, every painting is a discovery and challenge. I remember those days!

And as I hear from you about the cold in the majority of the continent, I want to send along an image from our recent 80 degree days. This is our driveway, looking out toward the street, taken in the morning with the outside temperature at 71. I fed the critters this morning in a tee shirt, and will be taking the scooter to the store just as soon as I finish this. I know, we pay for nice winters with hot summers, but it's hard to not enjoy such beautiful weather. I send it to you hoping it will warm up the room a bit.

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Workshop info for Florida, Maine, Georgia and California in 2009 can be found HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
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