Winter has really been hitting these northern parts hard this year! Seems like we’ve been getting dumped on every 2nd day or so. Both of us are already sick and tired of shovelling snow. It seems lately as though we’re living for work and shovelling, shovelling and work . . . ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

But in all honesty, this is probably more like the real northern winters we used to get. We’ve gotten spoiled the last 15 yrs or so with global warming and Christmases with just a light dusting. Our snow banks are already needing removing, and it’s not even Christmas yet. But I’ll bet, I’ll just bet that by the end of December, some warm spell will take all of this white stuff away. We’ll see . . .

Anyhoo, I’m posting some photos of some of the work I’ve been managing to do lately. The mallard has been put on hold for a bit while I work on Casper, an Appaloosa from my old town of St. Charles. I’d like to hurry up and get Casper done by this weekend so I can deliver him.

Both of these painting are merely works in progress and far, far from being done, so hold it on the criticism okay! Most of what I do takes place directly on canvas as I go along. I always start of with just a rough sketch, just to have things in place, then I block in with darks, and add light and color as I go along, always tweaking and changing things. For example, the left ear on the Appy will not stay like that. That’s just a very crude blocking in just placed as an indicator. The ear will almost completely change. The mane will be added after also. Casper just has the main spots painted in and the rest will be added as I go along, eyeballing everything. In fact, almost everything just gets added as I go along.

The same goes for the mallard. I’ve got the rough shapes in, just to give me an idea as to where I’m going and most of the detail gets added as I go along, feathers, water ripples, reeds and weeds . . . My underpainting is really just that, underpainting. Everything gets added in layers, building upon colors, adding light and shadows. I’ve never been able to paint like some painters who completely paint tiny sections at a time, completing one section before moving on to the next. I paint the whole, and add to the whole, therefore my paintings go through a lot of ugly before the pretty!

So, I’ve got to head on to my studio to keep working on Casper. I’ll post more pictures later this week, so until then, stay warm!