Final Entry :)

 Okay, so, I worried and fretted over Bekka's feet and in the end opted to avoid any detail at all. Her feet are very light so basically I  just let them fade away. (Sorry Heather.)

Any artist will tell you that one of the trickiest things is to know when a piece is finished. One sure sign that it is is when you start overly fussing. I did my fair share of fussing but woke up today--took one look--and KNEW I had finished painting Bekka. All that was left was the tiny specular reflection and my name.

BEKKA

CN

Entry #5 :(

 I had taken a day off because, as I suspected would happen, I have come across some glitches and challenges so I needed to come back to the painting with fresh eyes. The challenge was to get the musculature looking natural and I struggled with that. The glitch however, which I am more concerned about, is the fact that the reference photo is of a low resolution. This is mainly a problem when it comes to tweaking details and colouration in the legs and feet. There are times that the legs/feet blend with the background in the photo so I am unable to get a clear definition of what I am working with. In other words, I have to fudge it in places. This is extremely frustrating because I know that this can make or break the 'authenticity' of Bekka's image. 

I am struggling badly with the feet. Should I avoid details in them completely or do I pencil in details or attempt to paint them. Internet pictures of greyhound feet in this stance are impossible to find as they are always 'hidden' in the grass.  Time to put down my brush and back away!!. 

Entry #4 :)

 So, where did I leave off--okay, the mounting board got painted and dried so I forged on and removed my paper from the foamboard, staples and all, and REWET it. Going on faith, I restapled the paper to the new board in the hopes that by morning the paper would be successfully stretched. If not, I would have to await the delivery of the tape to proceed. The paper stretched!!! So now the real work begins.

Okay, so I have put in a few hours of painting now over two days (with a bit of golf between:) and I am pretty happy so far. I feel the colours aren't perfect  but at this point I am going to make do. 

Water colour paintings are a love/hate process (often more hate than love) but as I look at what I have accomplished so far, I am feeling pretty good about it. There are layers upon layers of colour and I have a long ways to go but here is the stage I am at presently.

Entry #3 :(

                                         Ready to stretch with drawing on paper

 I sure thought I would be at the 'paint-to-paper' stage by now but there is a glitch with stretching the paper. It is an over-night process and when I came down in the morning, the paper was all hills and valleys! For some reason the foam board couldn't contain the stretch. So, I am presently improvising with a piece of plywood (which had to be painted to make it waterproof). Delay, delay. I am also awaiting a special gummed tape which should be arriving by mail in the next few days. Phew! Lucky there is no deadline on this project.

(Note to self:  After discussions with others in my on-line art group, I decided in the end to stay with the paper I am most comfortable with--cold press.)

Entry #2 :)

Since my last post I have acquired my paper (Arches hot press) and new pigments (Italian Deep Ochre and Burgundy Red Ochre).

Doing backgrounds is always a struggle for me so have spent an inordinate amount of time experimenting with different techniques and colours in my head. Today I put some of those ideas on paper and I think I am getting close. My next step will be to get my drawing down on paper--and that's the easy part!

In the meantime, I have also connected with the photographer of the reference photo, Sandy Steck, who has been so kind in allowing me to use her photo. A big shout out to you Sandy.

Entry #1 :)

 Hi there, welcome to my blog. I'm hoping to diarize the process involved in doing an art piece in watercolour.  Meet Bekka. She is a Greyhound Champion. Isn't she a beauty? I have decided to take on the challenge of rendering her in watercolour from this reference photo which was provided to me by Heather E. who is Bekka's mom.

I tackled watercolour for the first time in April during lockdown. After hours of practice and many frustrations I actually think I am finally learning something about the qualities and behaviour of watercolour pigments, best brushes to use and the difference in various papers . I have had several successes with dog portraits. 

                                  

Normally, a portrait is a head shot, so Bekka will prove to be very interesting as she is at full stance and I have no idea where the process will lead me. Hoping it will be a success but I guess in the end that will depend on whether Heather is happy with the result.

I toss around different ideas in my head. Things like the finished size, type of paper and the task of rendering a line drawing that will be the basis of my painting. Of course, colour palette is tantamount and already I am certain I will be making a trip into Nanaimo to Iron Oxide to get some paper and new pigments.

I noticed on the reference photo that it has the photographer's name on it. It occurs to me that I should check into copyright. If it is copyright it will be necessary to get permission to copy it. I will contact Heather about this.