JACKIE GREENHOUSE -
PAINTING ANIMALS
Jackie usually paints from photographs she has taken
herself. She recommended doing this as there is then no problem with copyright
and suggested visiting places such as the New Forest Wildlife Centre and
Marwell to get pictures of animals easily.
After trying various media she finally settled on pastels
using polychromos pastels and pastel pencils on velour paper. To blend on this
paper she uses a paper towel wrapped around a finger. The side of new pastels
is cleaned off using a sandpaper block.
The animal she chose to paint was a cheetah cub. Jackie
doesn't trace her image as it damages the velour paper. Starting with a brown
pastel she draws in the eyes then the shadow areas using the side of the pastel
and blends them into the paper. Brown and orange is pushed into the eyes and
also blended in. White is used in the corner, outer edge and underneath the
eye.
To depict fur Jackie uses various brown pastels using grey
and lilac in shadows e.g. inside the ear. The pastels are blended then wisps of
hair or fur added using chalk to put in highlights. Pastel pencils or the edge
of a hard pastel are used for greater detail such as the side of the nose or
above the eye. Whiskers and eyebrows are drawn going in different directions. Background
vegetation can be a problem but by using a variety of colours difficult
subjects such as grasses can be dealt with. Finally a thin glaze is used to
unify the painting and a light spray of fixative added.
Jackie suggested starting with our own pets first and then
trying more difficult animals and with the Spring almost here there will be
plenty of young animals on which to try out our painting skills! Thank you,
Jackie for an inspiring evening.
 |
| Halftime picture |
 |
| Jackie and finished painting |
No comments:
Post a Comment