2-08-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch.

I finished the painting tonight.  I scumbled the sky colors together better, added snow to the one tree I was having problems with and added the glint to the large wolf's eyes.

2-04-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch.

The wolves are better now, but their coats are still too smooth, like they have the smooth hair of horses.  I'm trying to fluff them out a bit.  It's proving difficult.  Today, while the power was out, I added the undercoat to a fir tree within the wolf window.  And I added a deciduous tree with bare branches.  While I was painting some of these tiny branches, the consistency of the paint was just right.  It started to dry out; I added a bit of water - which proved to be too much.  Correct consistency is so crucial.

1-31-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch.

I've been struggling with tiny wolves.  The main large wolf is mostly completed.  I then tried putting in small wolves around the large one.  I discovered that I am not skilled enough to paint tiny wolves except in profile - hopefully.  I tried tiny wolves with their faces tilted sideways a bit, and I just couldn't get the proportions right.  So I began concentrating on wolves from the side.  It's working better, however, I still have lots of layering to do.  I have to figure out how to get the shading right, given that the wolves I'm painting are wearing their winter coats, and the wolves I'm going by are wearing their summer coats.

1-22-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch.

Lately I've been concentrating on the wolf.  I'm going by two different pictures, one a photo and the other is from a painting.  In the painting the wolf has lavender undertones.  In the photo it has brown and yellowish undertones.  I'm trying to see what works good here.  As usual the problem I have with doing individual hairs is the consistency of the paint.  Too much water and the hair comes out to wide.  Too little and it won't stick to the canvas.  It's nice to be at the point in my painting that I don't worry about messing it up.  If I don't like what I do, I just try again.

1-12-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch.

Today I worked on lightening the trees in the distance.  I also identified trees in the foreground and painted in a few more.

1-11-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch.

I've been avoiding the painting, afraid to mess it up and not sure how to do what I want to do.  Part of the problem is layering snow in the distance and gradually getting darker in the foreground when we're talking white, here.  When I add browns that are in the original photo, it looks dirty.  So I've been using blues and purples.  Today I added a little light blue to the snow-covered shelf-like field in the distance.  Then I underpainted the trees along the river in the distance and began working forward until I added form to the trees around the wolf circle.  I added another layer of dark heather blue to the river in the foreground.  At this point the trees in the middle need to be made much lighter than the trees in the foreground to add depth and distance.  The trees in the photo look a little brown.  I don't want them to be brown.  So I may have a little trouble getting the right color.  Payne's Grey is good for adding dark trees.  After working a total of about 4 hours, I decided I'd better stop and gain perspective.

1-7-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch

Yesterday and today I worked on the mountains again.  This time they are better.  Before, the mountains looked dirty, no matter what I did.  I had sketched them in using charcoal.  The charcoal mixed with the paint - thus they were dirty looking.  So this time I sketched them on my blue sky with a white pencil.  It worked much better.  I'm shading them in a purplish blue.  For some of the highlighting I added a touch of Alizarin Crimson to white.  I tried highlighting with a touch of orange before like Jerry Yarnell does, but I don't like the effect - maybe I used too much orange.  Yellow works, but it takes away the mystical look I'm trying to achieve.

1-5-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch

I wiped out the painting today and started over.  The overall background colors in each section are blended into each other.

1-4-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch

I completed all of the underpainting except for the main wolf.  He/She is drawn in a circle - a close-up shot.  I'm having difficulty making the background look misty.  Right now it just looks dirty.

1-3-06: Wolves of Teton Gulch

I started a painting of the Teton Mountains and the Yellowstone River with a wolf in the foreground.  I blocked in part of the underpainting.

12-24-05

Regardless of how you celebrate (or don't celebrate) this time of year,
Where Art Meets the Heart would like to wish you peace in a prosperous future.

12-23-05

I'm trying to decide what to paint next.  I have several ideas but as yet I do not have the needed supplies.  So I want to paint something else in the meantime.  However, I do need to make up and submit new queries for my books and mail them before the price of stamps goes up in January.  At least that gives me time to decide on what to paint.