4-14-08: Apple Bandits
Total time to complete painting - 39.32 hours.

Today I put finishing touches on the painting.  I added green highlights to some of the grass, using pure yellow/green.  I finished working on Missie's fur and face.  I spent most of the time working on Hazel #2's eyes.

I'm done. Yea!!

4-13-08: Apple Bandits

I worked on Missie's face and the two Hazel faces.  I had a lot of trouble with Hazel's eyes.  I couldn't seem to make them look like a ball.  They came out looking too human.  I couldn't get the accents right.  I had to take a break and try again.  The Hazel on the left may now be complete.  But the one on the right isn't.  Her eyeball looks too flat.  With Missie's eyes and face it seems to be going better.

4-12-08: Apple Bandits

Today's session I spent most of the time working on Missie's fur and face.  I also added a dead blackberry vine.  I accented the apples a little more and worked on Hazel's two faces.  The brushes I used were the #2 round and the #4 flat synthetic sables.
4-11-08: Apple Bandits

Using the same brushes as yesterday I added more grasses and flowers, painted and repainted the twigs in front of Missie, worked on shading and shaping her face.

4-10-08: Apple Bandits

I worked on the grass today, using a variety of colors to mix and paint the grass - Indian yellow, burnt sienna, diox. purple, yellow- green, Hooker's green, raw umber and white.  The brushes I used where the #4 and #2 bristle filbert brushes for pulling up grasses and blending them and the #2 round synthetic and the smaller scriptliner brush for the individual grasses.  As a result, some of the definition on the end of Hazel #2's fur was smudged.  I may have to rework that when I'm all done with the grass.

4-9-08: Apple Bandits

Using the #2 round synthetic brush that I used yesterday, I worked on the little raccoon's fur on the right.  I call her Hazel number 2.  Both of the smaller raccoons are actually pictures of the same raccoon in different positions.  Missie is the adult.  Hazel was from Missie's last litter.  Hazel, our favorite, was the smallest, scrappiest and the one who trusted us the most.  I mixed white gesso with raw umber and painted individual hairs all over Hazel number 2.  Next I added a little more raw umber to the mixture and repeated the process.  After that I added more raw umber and some Indian yellow, made the hairs brighter.  I also made the feet and hands wider and added ultramarine blue and Payne's grey to her face.

4-8-08: Apple Bandits

Last week rather than working on Apple Bandits I reworked the face of the woman in my painting Au Naturel.

Today I added more layers to the three raccoons.  I used the #2 round synthetic and the #4 flat synthetic Creative Mark Ebony Splendor brushes.  The strokes were short and choppy.  With Missie's right hand, I didn't have anything to go by.  It will be covered up by weeds, but I at least wanted an idea where it is, and what area I need to cover.  The photos I have of the raccoons' feet are very dark so it's hard to see the identifying shapes.

Again it was hard to get myself back to doing it after the period of absence.  I'm always afraid I will mess it up, and I have to force myself to restart the painting.  But it always helps my moods when I do paint.

3-30-08: Apple Bandits

I drew in flowers and underpainted the blossoms using white and cad. yellow light.  I underpainted the center of the flowers with Indian yellow and then pure cad. yellow light for the next layer in the center.  The stems were a combination of diox. purple, Hookers green, white and a touch of yellow green.  I added another layer to some of the grass on the left side.  The brushes I used were a #2 round synthetic, a #4 four flat synthetic and a #2 bristlette synthetic brush.

3-29-08: Apple Bandits

Mostly this time I worked on the grass, using a variety of brushes to see what works best.  The scriptliner brush seems to work best for long curved grass, but to use it the paint has to be thin enough for it to flow.  When it is thin enough, then there has to be several layers on one blade and that can ruin the wispiness.  So I'm still learning.  I also brought the grass up and around Missie, the larger raccoon.  She no longer looks like she's sitting in the middle of the air.  I also worked on adding white highlights to the apples.  But I'm not satisfied at this point.

3-28-08: Apple Bandits

Using a #3 bristle filbert brush I underpainted the three raccoons.  I used Payne's grey, ultramarine blue, a little burnt sienna and white in varying combinations.  The brush strokes were mostly short and choppy.  Next, with a #10 flat bristle brush, I painted a layer of grasses at the base of the bucket and under and around the apples, to settle them into the painting.  After that I returned to shaping and highlighting the apples.  Those little suckers seem to take lots of layering - probably because these are my first apples.

3-27-08: Apple Bandits

I added an inside rim to the basket, did a little touch up and spent most of the rest of the time working on the apples, using a #3 bristle filbert brush.  The colors I used for the apples were Alizarin crimson, cad. red - medium and light, bright yellow green and diox. purple.  After that I drew in the three raccoons.  The one on the right was in the wrong place, so I wiped it off.  Both of the little ones are based on Hazel, our favorite of Missie's last batch of kids.

3-26-08: Apple Bandits

I used the Ebony Splendor flat synthetic brushes today, 1 inch, #8, #4 and a #2 round.  I worked on the bucket, reshaping, contouring and shading.  I also added the slats that hold the bucket together.  My bucket is not as tattered looking as Jerry's.  The colors I used to do this, in varying combinations were Payne's grey, burnt sienna, cad. yellow medium, ultra marine blue, diox. purple, Indian yellow and white gesso.

3-23-08: Apple Bandits

During the last week I took a little time out from this painting to rework part of another painting, Dear Heart.

This session I watched more of Jerry Yarnell's Apple Harvest.  I found more reference material for the bucket as well as some apples.  I repainted the bucket, reshaping it a little.  After that I drew in and underpainted the apples using a #3 filbert bristle brush and cadmium red and diox purple paint.

3-16-08: Apple Bandits

I gathered reference material - printing out a picture of Missie - our momma raccoon and looked for pictures of her babies.  I also printed out a picture of a wooden apple bucket.  I will wait to print out the picture of her babies until I paint in Missie and the basket.  This will better allow me to determine the size and photos I need for the babies.  The babies will be closer to the viewer than Missie.

Next I determined where I would have Missie sit and loosely drew her in.  I drew in the basket.  With ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and purple and a #4 filbert bristle brush, I underpainted the oval on the inside of the bucket rim.  On the outside of the bucket, the lower part, I used the same dark color using a #10 bristle brush.  On the top of the outside I used white gesso, yellow and burnt sienna and blended it down toward the darker lower color.  After the bucket was underpainted I realized I needed to situate Missie a little higher in the painting.  I'll do that next time.

3-15-08: Apple Bandits - New Painting

Using Jerry Yarnell's Hake brush and watching his video instructions called Apple Harvest, I began gessoing the upper 2/3rd of the canvas.  Starting on the right with sweeping angular motions, I gradually added yellow, and yellow green blending to the left.  Next, red and orange on either side of the yellow green.  Sweeping over to the left I blended in Hookers green and the yellow green gradating to a purplish green in the left corner.  Below that I added some purplish-green underpainting for lower grasses, using a #10 bristle brush.  I cleaned out the Hake brush and formed a chiseled edge on the brush.  At that point I lightly drew the edge of the brush up the canvas in various places to form grasses.  This removes some of the paint and makes it look like light grass.  I mixed up a green-purplish thin mixture.  With the scriptliner brush I painted in dark grass.  Next I underpainted the grasses in the foreground.  Using a #6 bristle brush and light colored paint I dabbed in a few seed pods in the background.  After that I mixed some reds and yellows, thinned the paint, and with an old eyelash brush I spritzed that paint onto the canvas.  Now everything needs to dry.