Frankie

At lunchtime today. Just the ears and mane to go. The photo is a touch blurry due to my very cold hands trying to hold the camera! Also, there is lighting from my daylight lamp to the left-hand side of the painting making it appear lighter there than it actually is.

Frankie

This is Frankie at lunchtime today. There are so many different colours involved in chestnut coats, including grey tones etc so I find each chestnut challenging but also a great learning experience in colour mixing.

Frankie

Here are the beginnings of Frankie, a very handsome chestnut. I've kept the shadow in on the neck to make sense of the lighting but I've tried to make it less of a contrast.

Zebras - finished

At last, we have broadband!! It's a very sad fact that I miss the internet when it's not there but being an artist is a very isolated existence so I use the internet to keep in contact with lots of people and it's very lonely without!

Here, finally, is the finished version of the Zebras.

It has been approved and just had a coat of varnish so will be ready to be placed under the Christmas tree shortly.

I have started on the next painting but will take a photo in the morning when the light is better. I must thank you all for being patient due to the unfortunate timing of our moving house plus my subsequent stress that had me floored for a few days last week but I'm up and painting with fury again and will endeavour to catch up!

Update

Just a quick note to say that paintings are being done, the Zebras are finished but we've been without internet connection and since today only have very slow dial up so posting photos will be impossible until our internet provider sort out our connection. It might be slow on dial up, but it's sooo good to have internet connection back!

Zebras

I've nearly finished the other Zebra now, just the ear to go! I ran out of time today because we had the call come through that the keys to our new house were ready to pick up so I chose to do that rather than finish the ear!

Zebras

Just the head and neck to go on the right hand side Zebra. I'm really enjoying this painting, having never painted wildlife before, except a whale and a frog at school! If anyone's going on safari and has space in their suitcase to ship me over, please let me know!

Zebras

Here it is today with a close up of the finished Zebra on the left.

Zebras

I'm loving doing this commission and am learning a great deal along the way. People always think of Zebras as being black and white but there are so many other colours involved, their coat contains ochres, oranges and yellows, lots of which has presumably come from the dust they have been rolling in plus colours get reflected on animals coats from their surroundings. Even the black stripes aren't "just black" as they reflect light, curve with the bodies etc so I have to be careful I get this right. Don't forget you can click on the picture to see a larger version.