Animal and Wildlife Art Lessons
"Melvin the Hound"
By David Dowbyhuz
Now that the basic color has been completed on the arm I will begin work on the back of the couch and the ratty old blanket that Melvin is laying on. (Note: I chose to simplify the pattern of the blanket.) I began by painting in purely flat blocks of color, without any attention to dimension or volume. Just cover the canvas at this stage. After all, a real blanket doesn't have perceived volume on its surface. Light creates the volume, but that will be applied at a later stage in the painting. This is a good stopping point to allow the paint to dry. I believe you are now aware of the advantage of painting in this style. While waiting for paint to dry you have time to get on with other things in your life.
Two days have passed, and now I am ready to continue. Here is where I begin the glazing. I prefer a product called "Liquin" in my glazes. To this syrupy commodity I add varying degrees of sap green and Paynes gray. This is where I begin to model the surface of the blanket, giving it the shape and volume I promised.
These next stages move along fairly fast. One of the most appealing properties of "Liquin" is that it accelerates drying. Glaze is applied to the foreground blanket. (Note: The brightest areas are ignored for now.)
The process of reducing the blanket and creating depth continues with more dark glazes. The folds and creases are deepened, and the couch beneath the blanket makes it’s presence felt. The turning edge of a crease in fabric, where it meets the change in tone, is usually darker than the body tone of the actual shadow. I carefully vary my tones in a consistent 1 dark, 2 lighter, and 3 lightest values in this fashion. Enough dark. I now add some highlights using a random mixture of titanium, zinc and flake white to bring up the pleats in the fabric.
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