Peek a Boo!....

After visiting a friend in southwest Manitoba a while back to see her new home, I found this cute little guy wandering amongst the old wagon wheels. It took a few shots to get him to not be so skittish and actually stand still long enough for me to take his picture.

So I began of course with editing my image as it was fairly dark and not much value contrast so I bumped that up and removed a few unsightly items. Next my sketch on Bristol Vellum and of course my colour map. I always do a mapping of my work either on individual areas and work on them alone or map out with the base colours over a large area. I will do this with coloured pencils or with pan pastels depending on how large the area is. The reason for doing this is so I can sort of scribble in areas of warmth or coolness and thereby leave a guide to follow. This layer need not be very neat but it should be done with a light touch applying just enough colour to the area to create a foundation for the layers to follow. (Note the lightly scribbled areas on the kitten's leg and the pastel on the wheel). Next I go in and start bringing it together with more detail. Other than the bit of green grass in the foreground, I'm using a fairly limited palette of mostly FC Polychromos pencils but using various shades of the same colour hue. A lot of grays both cool and warm.