Jump

I took a photo of Bury with sunlight slanting on a part of it, like a broad shaft of light from heaven was beaming down on this dog (if heaven was located to the upper right).
I loved the way it looked, and I decided to do it. Now. Deep breath. Jump.

Go big or go home, as my son says.

This was ...liberating. I'm glad I did it.


I'll be brightening up the fur from the top of the shoulders to the top of the ears. I'm thinking it''s the light of the great beyond you know - "go to the light ...." Or maybe the grim reaper has a really big flashlight.
It's not particularly logical, but it pleases me visually.

(un)Bury the Dead

Worked on fur detail, as in individual hairs, and tried to make his paws and front digging leg look dirty. It will need more peach/red tones. Also did a glaze on the bone. It will never be what I initially imagined, but I am not without hope that it will be done in time. I am okay with the dirt. Note to self - an idea without a working reference is just brain electricity. It's not ready to paint.

Buried

Worked on Bury the Dead. 
Closer, though not there yet, especially the front leg feathers which will be getting much darker. I'll be breaking up some of the lights on the body as well. I am once again swearing to myself that I won't start working unless I have a reference that's absolutely solid. I have one for the body, another for the paws, a third for the head, and too many different Georgia clay references to list.What was I thinking?

Bones and dirt, two more dogs

Inspired. Found a visual reference of dirt with a root that looks like a rib bone. It was in a corner of a photo I took of guys burying a sprinkler system. I added it to the lower left corner. Added black to fur. Changed angle and length of forward paw. Added dirt behind paw. Extended ears. Lengthened bone into the ground and added and deleted clods of dirt.

Went to breakfast at HomeGrown.

Then did a first pass of the two dogs in Comfort the Sick. Painting Moochie was a pleasure, the pup a revelation in how pink her underbelly is. Compared to painting dirt, the wheelchair should be a snap. 

 

I took a couple of hours to read and nap, so I can stay up late (um, 9pm) to attend daughter's performance at the High museum tonight.

Headstone gray

Still painting variations on white fur. Added little shadows under the rosary. Worked on her eyes. Here's a detail


The big change is changing the grass green background to Bury the Dead. I made a color I'm calling headstone gray.

I'm much, much happier.

I heading for a nap now, and when I get up I'm going to draw Visit the Sick. There are two dogs, part of a wheelchair, and legs in striped pajamas involved.

Bury the Dead

Here's Bury the Dead.
I now have paint on 99% of four canvases. I pledge to not start anymore until at least two of these are in line for varnishing. Maybe by the end of September? Then I might get two more started and done before the November show. I'll get a better idea when I've done a round of painting the fur (vs just blocking in the shapes). It feels like I've got momentum and velocity just now.
The background will remain hazy, but the ground beneath the dog will be quite detailed - both the lighter color of the cracked, hard crust, sun-baked Georgia red clay and the darker, dense, wet clods of red clay. And then there's the femur.

Feed the Hungry, Bury the Dead

Today worked on the white areas on the puppies and blocked in the Mama. I knocked the red hue down on the far right pups. I'm going to add a rosary across the front that will drape over her paw and over the lip of the front edge (not painted in yet), and put in her halo next. Needs lots of value pushing and, the part I love, individual hairs curving out here and there.



This is the start of Bury the Dead.