A Giant Highland Cow Painting in progress
Big Cow on Canvas
Im getting close to finishing this big lady, (100 x 120cm ) My easel at the studio in Ferrers is not my big hefty easel, and I really noticed the difference yesterday. I had to hammer three wooden canvas wedges into the workings of the easel to stop it sliding down to the floor under the weight of this canvas.
A rainbow Cow painting triptych
Today at the studio I hope to finish this colourful guy. One of the things that I do as part of my process, as well as creating the big shapes first, is that I work intuitively on the first layers. I don’t try and worry too much about the final result. This then gives me something to respond to in the following sessions. So I have added all the colours that I wanted to add and the wild and woolly hair. Today I will work back into the paintings and edit, tidying up some of the edges and leaving others, hopefully ending up with the final cow that I envision. Watch this space, I’ll post another photo of the final piece.
I enjoy painting on three panels, the finished effect is cool and contemporary and you get different looks depending on whether you leave a gap when you hang the paintings. I’m currently feeling very glad that I have rented this size of a studio, I remember during the pandemic, when I was painting at home and trying to create a big piece like this in the spare room - not easy!
A finished work in progress
I started sketching out this new Highland Cow piece two months ago, and I nearly finished it this week. Here are the stages, clockwise from the top left. This cow is irresistible to paint with that cheeky side-eye!
Beginning work on a new painting commission - Highland Cow in bright rainbow colours
Each Highland Cow portrait is a one-of-a-kind, unique oil painting. This little video shows the beginning stage of a new painting, which has been commissioned recently. Im going to film the whole process on this one and give the client the video along with the piece.
Re-working an older piece
This week I have been gathering my available paintings together and having a look at them with fresh eyes as I prepare for two exhibitions coming up in the Spring. With oil painting there is always the opportunity to return to an unvarnished piece and make some ‘tweaks’ at a later date. This week I decided to take 4 of my pieces to one side and give them a little facelift, adding a touch more vibrancy and contrast. This is possible by gently cleaning the surface and ‘oiling out’ the painting to provide a uniformly glossy surface to work smoothly onto. I then apply glazes of fresh colour, which can be removed , or partially removed to give the desired effect if necessary. I find this process super enjoyable and quite exciting.
Two of my bird paintings acquired a second set of wings along with the makeover!
Working on a pait of blackbirds
Adding in a little friend for my lone Starling…
Work process video - painting a horse portrait.
I had already painted the first layer of this painting of a beautiful Chestnut Peruvian Paso gelding called Tucker, kind permission of K Broemmelsick. I hung the canvas up to dry and it was actually almost a year until I managed to get a second session in. I filmed myself painting the next stage and made a video. When editing it, I found out that I use my fingers rather more than I realise!
Work in progress - Coonhound Mix Coda
This small oil is painted from a photo reference kindly supplied by permission of Karen Broemmelsick. I love this dog's expressive eyes. This is the third time I have painted a portrait of Coda. I have a little work to do on the feet, which I will leave slightly deconstructed so as the keep the main focus on her eyes.
