Be warned - cup of tea and slippers required as now follows an EPIC post....................
My Dad has been banned from my Blog until Sunday, when I will finally be posting the oil I have been telling you about!
It dried far more quickly than expected and so I have been able to varnish and frame it already!
The painting is going to be my gift for my Dad for Fathers Day, which here in the UK is this Sunday - and I will be explaining the reason for my chosen subject on the day.
It's a nice story, which I'm sure you will like :0)
Firstly, I ought to explain the absence of my Spanish watercolour landscape, which was an utter disaster beyond all imaginability! I usually post everything, even those paintings I consider to be complete failures - BUT - this one is SO bad, that it really is un-bloggable! Far too embarrassing!
So - not wanting to leave it any longer before posting something new, I decided that it might be nice to give my followers a sneaky preview of Sundays post.
Then I decided to go the whole hog and share with you, a step-by-step, of how I went about the painting from the very beginning, right the way through the under-painting... but - I will be missing out the final stage, which I will reveal, only on Sunday!
So, here goes...
After setting up my subject, I made a sketch to the size I wanted...
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| © Sandra Busby |
Next, after shining a lightly strongly from one side, I added some shading to establish the dark areas...
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| © Sandra Busby |
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| © Sandra Busby |
Now it was time to prepare my canvas.
I needed to warm it up a little and get rid of that stark white....
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| © Sandra Busby |
At this stage I set my easel up with everything close to hand...
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| © Sandra Busby |
...and was ready to transfer my sketch to my canvas...
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| © Sandra Busby |
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| © Sandra Busby |
Next, I used both the bear and also the sketch as a reference to under-paint the darks of the bear...
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| © Sandra Busby |
...and the background...
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| © Sandra Busby |
At this stage I wanted to make sure I was happy with the lights and darks and decide if anything needed changing.
But I was quite happy - Phew!
So, now I began to really re-enforce the under-painting with a much richer tone....
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| © Sandra Busby |
So, that's the under-painting finished! And I'm happy! :0D
Next it was time to begin the over-painting, which involved several layers of subtle colours, allowing each layer to dry before adding any more.
Once dry, I added two coats of varnish and a frame, very carefully chosen to form a very important part of the painting.....
.....But, you can't see any of that until Sunday!
And believe me it looks very, VERY different than what you see at this stage!
See you then ;0)
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What a cliffhanger! Can't wait till Sunday!
ReplyDeleteGreat Post,it's nice to see how your works, I'm curious now :-))
ReplyDeletea hugs!
Dad will be happy :D Arianna
ReplyDeletewow! Great to see an oil WIP.. looking forward to seeing the finished painting! xx
ReplyDeleteDad will love it! And thank you for the step-by-step.
ReplyDeleteLooking good already - can't wait to see the framed, finished piece :)
ReplyDeleteWow - I LOVE it at this stage! Can't wait to see Sunday's post!
ReplyDeleteI loved your WIP. I always love it when people share the WIP pictures. Thank you. And yes.. I too am waiting for Sunday post..
ReplyDeleteDelicious post: I waiting for.
ReplyDeleteCiao.
Wow! What a nice post, Sandra. I'm waiting for Sunday to look at the final version...which I'm sure, will be amazing!!
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a very interesting post . I have been taking pictures of my last artwork in progress. I am looking forward to seeing the end result of this one. One thing for sure you father will love it because I am sure he loves you.
ReplyDeleteHello Sandra,
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful job. He has his mark!
to cleaning, organizing and lightness!
My sincere congratulations
Looks great so far, can't wait for Sunday.
ReplyDeleteThis is adorable Sandra, I know your Dad will treasure this! love,Diana
ReplyDeleteFabulous post and it's great to see your WIP. Can't wait to see the finished article.
ReplyDeletei love what you've done so far and can't wait to see the finished painting. it was great to see your step by step and how you prepare. i love these old teddies and am intrigued on the story behind this.
ReplyDeleteIt promises to be a masterpiece, Sandra! I love to see every step of your creative process!
ReplyDeleteIt's SO beautiful Sandra!! I can't wait to see the finished piece. Just one more day!! :) It looks like it was a ton of fun too. Your enthusiasm in your writing is infectious.
ReplyDelete:D
Thank you so much everyone for your comments! I hope I haven't built it up so much that you're disappointed!
ReplyDeleteOf course I have read each comment and appreciate every one of them, and I hope you don't mind if just this time I answer all of you at once, because it's Fathers Day today, I have just woken up and I am off to see my Dad in One hour. I want to put the finished bear on before I go but I always like to respond to the comments I receive before putting up a new post :0)
Anyway, thank you so much, and now here it comes..................! :0)