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artbykarieann
I am a part-time pet portrait and wildlife artist living in the deep dark forest between the Royal Forest of Dean, Herefordshire and the Welsh border. A beautiful and inspiring place to live and create pet portraits and wildlife art.
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Monday 27 April 2009

Leopard by Wildlife Artist Karie-Ann Cooper

Leopard Wildlife Art


For a change I thought I'd focus just on the wildlife art today and show you methodically what I have done (a bit of a novelty for me) after a 4 o'clock start with Willow I decided sleep was a waste of time and got on with the leopard portrat instead. So here goes, above I have completed the mars black and light sienna undertones, as I explained yesterday this was a bit of a mind numbing task but the image emerging on the page so quickly was such a bonus.
So I then added a light brown in the spaces, this almost gives a shadow to each hair and gives the fur more definition and a real look. Still a long way to go though...
so to give the fur it's golden tinge I used raw sienna all over, again the colour just sits in the gaps left so it does look like flecky fur (if that makes sense), now the coat looks more fluffy but I need to add some shadows so I use burnt umber to create shadows and darker areas, I have only done this near the ear so far and must continue all over but on this same area I went back over with a flesh pink pencil to fill any more gaps, this adds a few highlights and also light umber to ensure every gap was filled. I just need to do this all over now. I seem to have a formulation with the colours, I try an area with all the colours I think are needed and then simply copy the order I lay down the colours with, I'm not sure if I need to keep the order of colours the same but maybe the fur will not turn out the same if I swap them about, but I stick to it to the order religiously. I hadn't realised I did this until I lost the raw sienna colour and wouldn't continue with the other colours until I had found it and put a layer down.
Apologies for the lack of consistency with the lighting on the shots, one was taken last night, one was taken very early (pre-dawn) this morning and the final one in daylight near the patio window. I can't take it outside as we've had hail stones and thunder today so it could get a bit wet!!! Anyway I hope that goes to show how I work, I don't always work the same way twice but I hadn't realised how regimented I was with the order of colours. I told you I wasn't the natural arty type, everything is mathematical for me!

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9 comments:

Unknown said...

No you're not the typical arty type. You're the one in a million artist who has the discipline to take these extra steps and lay in these details to have amazing results. The rest of us are so flighty or have ADD, they need to have more instantaneous results. I only wish I could do what you do young lady.

artbykarieann said...

Wow, thanks Sheila, that has boosted my confidence no end

Kathleen Coy said...

Catching up on your blog. WOW!!!! This is gorgeous!!!

Tracey Clarke said...

Karie-Ann, this is a great step by step. I agree w/Sheila...wow, do you have persistence and disciplne. Beautifully done.

Laure Ferlita said...

And I third what what Sheila and Tracey have said. You have a tremendous talent - I don't think it really matters what "form" it takes just so long as you use it and share it with the world! Beautiful work.

Is it my imagination or does this one seem to be going much quicker than the other big cat you've been working on?

Pussycats and Angels said...

Hi Karie-Ann
This is an incredible piece of work. You certainly do have persistence and self disciplne and the ability to captivate me. I just love Leopards, but then I do have a weakness for cats.
Have a good week.
Warm Wishes
Julie:)

Lene Daugaard said...

Hi karie-Ann
Wonderful painting - very realistic fur !

artbykarieann said...

Perhaps I have more patience than I thought, I get bored watching television and have a low span of concentration but I suppose this is really very time consuming and although it does seem to be appearing on the page at a rate of knots, I think my very early mornings, thanks to Willow waking me up, have added many hours of extra work to normal, I will say though I am fast becoming obsessed with this portrait!

Anonymous said...

Hi Karie, your leopard is coming along beautifully. Are you using pastels? You thought I was using watercolor, but I use oils. I started using the water soluable oils and love them.

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