In the Studio

I’m a little behind in posting here, but it’s been a horribly rough week and a half or so. My horse pulled up wounded in some form, had to get the vet out and he went over him from stem to stern. Best we can figure is he strained a muscle or pinched a nerve, likely from slipping on some ice as it’s that time of year with the big spring melt on and lots of freezing/thawing all around. We’ve got him on Bute for a week and so far it seems to be helping in a big way. He would barely walk before, the pain seemed to be too great, and now at least he’s moving around fairly freely and getting to the hay and water no problem.

Anyhoo! With all this going on, I’ve been making frequent trips out to the farm to check on him and we’re actually enjoying a special bonding time throughout all this. Today was one such day, and after feeding him his medicine, and grooming him and just being generally cuddly….I went and grabbed my new pastel pochade box, plunked myself down on a stool in the straw of the cow shelter we have him holed up on for resting. I began sketching out the scene in front of me, where he was dozing and I could see him through the fence rails. But wouldn’t ya know it, by the time I got the boards and sky blocked in, he moved! Soooooo I ended up finishing it without him in it. I’m calling this one “Donkey’s Point of View”, as they do have a little miniature donkey out there at the farm, and I was sitting at about her eye level.

Donkey’s Point of View 8″ x 8 1/2″ pastel

Afterwards, the sun was still shining bright - gotta get used to these longer days now that spring is finally here, yeah!! So I went out for a hike in the woods and plunked myself down in the melting snow right about here, and while my husky and the farm dog were busy out carousing around not far from me, I was busily sketching away. Here is the result of about an hour’s time sitting in the warm sunlight…didn’t even need a jacket today!

Spring Thaw 10″ x 12 1/2″ pastel

Last night I worked on the wolf some, after “killing” the background a bit by blurring it out to push it further away from the viewer. Because to give a sense of distance, and the focal point being the wolf, too much detail in the far background makes it seem like it’s right there at the same level with the wolf, when in fact we know it’s not. So, I blurred out the tree line with a dry brush, rubbing the pastels to soften the lines thus blurring it out.

The wolf himself, his head needed to be “poofier” and his muzzle smaller. After compare measuring some of his dimensions - done by using my thumb and index finger to get a rough idea how long something is, not using a ruler - I compared the distance from the top of his head by his left ear, down to where his muzzle jutted out, and found that the distance (in the reference photo) was fairly close to the length of the foreleg’s bottom side. So I had that part correct. But the muzzle still seemed too large. So I compared the same length of his forehead to where it comes down from the top of his muzzle down his neck. In the photo, the length is a few clumps of hair down his neckline under his chin, yet, in my piece, the distance was the same size as from the top of his muzzle to his chin line. So definitely way too thick in there. So I re-drew his entire snout. Gotta love pastels!!! All these past months I’ve had it drilled into my head that nothing can beat oils as far as a fine art medium. Well, by golly, I can do anything oils can do with these pastels, so they are definitely MY medium!

Soooo here is the progress photo where you can see the changes. At first glance you may not notice the difference, but compare it to the photo underneath it which was the previous stage and you will see a big change in the wolf.

And the prior version for quick comparison:

Allrighty, here is today’s stage. I digitally worked up the upper background to see what I’d like to so, and then I made it so in the pastels. Gotta love modern technology!

Sorry I missed yesterday…just didn’t get any time at the easel. Computer, the slave driver that it is, wouldn’t let me escape it. Noooooooooo

Anyhoo, here is today’s installment so far. I say so far because I’m likely to do more work on it yet today IF the computer doesn’t keep me here.

Today I started detailing the background from the top down. I’m working out what will be where and how detailed it will be. I’ll likely “kill” some of the details I’m creating to push it further into the background, but it will depend on how detailed and sharp the foreground is. So far to kill it all I’ve had to do is rub it lightly with a kleenex tissue. Blurs out the edges of the marks enough to give them that out of focus distant feel. I’m kinda winging the background as I go along, deciding where to put a twig or a branch or a rock, or some other miscellaneous natural debris that is common in the grassy woodland that this wolf calls home. I haven’t done anything new yet on the bottom half of the picture, that will come later.