A Productive Sunday

I accomplished quite a bit in my studio today.  I didn't get started until after 10:30 this morning because I went to Weight Watchers.  I was down .4 which is a good thing.  I had planned to hike Lookout Mountain this morning as well, but I was anxious to get started on some art projects.

First I had to get a photo of Leila.  She was very cooperative, I suppose because I had just displaced her from a nap on my bed.  She chose to sit on the nightstand as I made my bed.  I still can't believe that I was so lucky as she doesn't usually sit around.  As soon as I was finished, she got right back on the bed and continued her nap.

I started out working at my easel and thought I had Leila's proportions layed out pretty well.  I was having a hard time pushing the pastels into the paper when it was upright, so I moved back over to my table to work.  I am not sure what happened to the proportions.....oh well.  Working in the coloring of Leila's hair was difficult.  I struggled keeping the colors from looking muddied, especially as I added the black, but in the end I felt as if I had captured the tortoise coloration pretty well.  Why are cat's eyes so hard?!?  They are very round and curve upward.  They have a very thin line of black around them which is hard to do with a pastel crayon!  You would have thought that by the third cat I moght have it figured out!  Nope.

I was anxious to work the skin tones on my painting of Rainy & Raven but decided instead that I should get my first layer of color in on their hair and clothing.  Using a rag wrapped around my finger, I rubbed in oil paint that was thinned with turpentine.  Now that the  first layers are there, I will switch over to using a brush.  I still need to think in terms of layers to get the overall luster and depth of the painting media.  This means that I can't be in a hurry.  I will have to stay focused, and patient!

I also continued my painting of Jack the Beagle.  I decided that the background was too blueish so I began by rubbing a layer of terra verde over the background.  This seemed to successfully tone down the blue though I may decide that it needs one more layer.  I also layed in the first layer of color on Jack.  Just like my painting of Rainy & Raven, I am ready to switch to painting with a brush when this layer dries.

Finally, I used oil pastels and finished the self-portrait on the cover of my IB sketchbook.  I had collaged torn magazine pieces on the cover weeks ago, but just hadn't gotten around to doing the self-portrait part of it.  I think I had somewhat lost interest because I just completed 2 self-portraits for examples to show my IB students.  This is not my best self-portrait, I struggled with the eyes and my glasses.  When I was finished with it, I applied a protectice layer of matte medium over the surface.  Now it is officially completed!