It's amazing how many people have never heard of thunder flies. I thought you got them everywhere - maybe people call them something different. They're those miniscule 2mm long black flies that love the corn so much...and at this time of year they appear to love everything else too.
For an artist it's a nightmare as they get into paintings under the galss and you end up with a little flurry of them collected in the corner of white mounts.
This year they have managed to slip inside my PC screen and my laptop screen - actually inching their way throufh the liquid crystal until they can go no further. Now I hvae strage little commas in the documents that I write until I realise that it's a thunder fly!Anyway that's not what you came here for is it?
I have been cracking on a pace with the Bengal family and shortly I'll be starting on Jasper - the last cat in the piece.Here's Carminah 90% finished - no whiskers yet. Her eyes are amazing colours, clearly she's at that age here where they're still deciding what colour they should be! There are flecks of almost everything in there.
I 'discovered' a blue stuffed mouse in
Ambers toy basket and thought that it would complement the rusts and ochres in the piece, but before I could do anything with it, Amber decided that I couldn't play with her toys and has whisked it away somewhere, so now I have to hunt the mouse...
Ambers toy basket and thought that it would complement the rusts and ochres in the piece, but before I could do anything with it, Amber decided that I couldn't play with her toys and has whisked it away somewhere, so now I have to hunt the mouse...
Having finished Carminah for now, I started on Sonnet. The next few shots follow the same pattern as before with a start on the eyes and then slowly building up the layers from blocks of colour to detail. Here's a shot of all the family so far...
Here you can clearly see the layers building.
For some reason, Sonnet does not look happy to be having his photo taken herewhich I think adds to the character of the piece. They all have their own particular expressions.
In these two images you can see how the whole thing starts to change as the dark tones are strengthened. Each cat that is finished anges the whole look of the composition. Spirit is very striking in his markings and fairly vibrant and Sonnet balances this out nicely. At the moment Shadow stands out as the palest of the bunch, but once I start on Jasper, these two will balance up nicely.
Upcoming showtime
You will find me this weekend - Friday, Saturday and Sunday - at the East of England showground in Peterborough at "Just Dogs Live!". No doubt I will be putting the finishing touches to this piece and starting on the next commission.
If you get a chance to go - I might see you there.
Have a good weekend all.
Right, better go and find that mouse...
Jilly
Hope the show went well Jilly - it was certainly a sizzling weekend here in Kent but believe some parts were having rain?
ReplyDeleteWe've not had thunderflies although I did catch my stepdaughter carefully studying one of my drawings on the easel the other day. I'd laid a mount (still in its cellophane wrapper) over the picture to check the effect. A centipede had obviously got trapped in the cellophane and died - draped artistically in one corner of the mount. She was trying to work out whether its some sort of weird signature I'm working on I think :o) - every portrait comes complete with dead bug drawn on the mount!
The cats are looking great ... I've been on hols and just getting back to work so I guess these are finished now? Look forward to seeing end picture.
Hi Sue
ReplyDeleteHope you had a good holiday ;0)
Certainly was hot for us at the show. So hot that people were showing the dogs then whisking them off home. We were inside, which was great as it was cool, but not so good as we didn't get the footfall. Anyway I did manage to get a lot of work done on the Bengals. I'll be updating later with the finished piece.
Love the idea of the dead bug signature - maybe I should try that, perhaps a squashed fly in every painting ;0)