untamedartists

That's a great point Mitch. As you know I'm a big believer in sketching for this reason alone (plus it's fun). And on top of that, I also find that if I have an extended period of doing scratchboards, I struggle to come back to pastels. Use it or lose it. I now know that I need to have more than one project on the go in different media if I'm going to remain proficient in my choices.

OK, I'm back...what's my homework?

Just re-read your last post here Patrick, and it does show in your work. You seem to be constantly starting and finishing pieces of high quality work.

Ok guys, just poking my head in here in the Aussie forum to leave a comment on how nice your Tasmanian Devils look.

Really, I would paint one of these little guys... The ones you've done look great! But I'm sitting on the sidelines for this one because I know my US galleries would probably shoot me if I did. lol! (I haven't had any requests for these critters, anyway... )

Best,

Rebecca

Hi Rebecca, feel free to jump on board...you can always give the finished piece to me and I'll be more than happy to take it off you hands LOL...

Love your work by the way, thanks for checking in!

Hey Rebecca, glad you're liking what the wonders from down under are doing here. Hopefully in the next 12 months we'll be running a fundraiser for these poor little critters. They've just been put on the critically endangered list in the past couple of weeks...

OK Leigh, what's next on this little ride we're on...I'm rested and ready.

Give me a few days and we should be able to start the next stage as we've spoken about.

Not a problem Leigh...got my new camera and lens, I'm happily playing with that for the time being.

OK, OK this is takin a while...

But before I jump ahead to my results of the next step or study. And the awesome evening spent painting with Leigh doing it...I should just touch on my thoughts on the Prisma or color portion of this work. For me adding color has been like adding life to the character of the animal that was discovered through the previous steps of getting to know this animal. Photographing the subject, laying out the Composition and habitat, Quick Sketches to capcher character and movement and detailed sketches which discovered the layout and feel of tones and the flow of it's coat all brought me to a level of understanding of the devils that I had not had before this excercise. Through these steps, this became more of just an intended subject, it became a subject I know.

Color just brought it all home and the devil alive. I initially thought...wow black, how do you work the tones of black? In fact if you go back in this thread I think I had mentioned that black was one of my hurdles. Well as with most things black there were multiple colors of the fur. But if you asked people the color of a devil, most would probably say they are black with a bit of white....they would be wrong. Devils are not black, not at all. They do have a lot of black but what we see as the tones of black in many cases are not black at all.

The steps and studies of the devil to this point have had such an impact on me that I have decided to go against my initial idea of the fighting devils and show the softer side. To many people that think they know devils, they are fighters and biters, with a lot of growling thrown in. Sure they're a bit agro a lot of the time...but they're just talkin . So in my final version I've decided to show a more peaceful devil. ...as of now don't know what that will be...LOTS of time to plan though. Still a very long way to go.

Thanks Guys

Now FINALLY some paint I know this WIP is long and with Leigh doing most of the steering, it's only gonna get longer. I've gotta do twelve of these studies. Tonal BG Paintings with only a large brush to stop my addiction to detail

I'm sure to many of you who paint this will seem beyond simplistic...to me on the other hand it was like looking off of a high place for a long time and jumping. This was my darkest place...BG's.

Two or three nights ago Leigh and I turned on our web cams, hooked up to Skype and just painted together. Not in a lesson way but more in a hang out and paint way. He kinda walked with me into the Lions mouth, which turned out not being a Lions mouth at all. Which makes me ask the question why are so many people afraid of BGs?

This also answered another question that had been another demon of mine...How do people work in a loose style? Where does that come from and how do you tap into that sense of abandon that so many good artist seem to be able to do? Anyway, I got a glimpse and am thrilled with my result. To many of you this will seem like a five year old did it, but to me it is truly a HUGE step in my work...only eleven more to go...you can blame Leigh