Process of a painting

A look into my process of creating a painting. Starting with the idea, sketches and where it ends up- sometimes not what I planned…

I LOVE seeing artists’ process. Seeing the sketches, the color studies and swatches. It’s fun to see how a spark of an idea progresses into a final piece. I recently participated in a group art show with the theme of PETS. Here is a look at my process of that particular painting, how it starts with an idea, and ends up as the final- framed and ready to hang for the show! I always start with playing around in my sketchbook to see what comes out. I first had the idea of a goldfish and then a cat appeared…

I love the humor of an odd couple! I also recently purchased the most beautiful fluorescent pink paint and wanted to use it for the under painting-pink is my favorite color. :)

At first I wanted the fish to be the focus, and then have the cat to be part of the background. I started with a canvas of 8x8:

This was fun, but still wasn’t what I was going for. I decided to pull an idea from my sketch book and explore the idea of the cat with a fish bowl on top of his head…

This was still not doing it for me. I put this on the easel with the first paining and left them there for 2 days. This allows me to have them always in view, in my studio, while working on other projects. One morning, it hit me- the cat would be so irritated and sarcastic about having a fish bowl on his head. I grabbed my pencil and immediately sketched the idea.

When I paint, I always have a brand new canvas, off to the side, where I can put unused paint from my pallet- I refuse to waste paint! At this point, I had a canvas of extra yellow and florescent pink sitting off to the side. I decided to grab it and use it. I quickly sketched the idea on the canvas with black paint and flat brush.

THIS is what I was going for! First I tried the cat as all black…

…this was close, but not quite what I was going for…back on the easel… Then a spark! Make the cat multi colored! I grabbed a piece of copy paper and old school crayola markers to quickly sketch it out.

Finally got it! Time to add some color to the cat! Mixed up some orange and went to work on the underpainting.

Time for the final touches

…. And then finally finished! Tada! Framed and ready for the show!

Remember earlier I mentioned I keep a canvas panel off to the side to use for extra paint left on my palette? Here’s a look at the one I used for the left over paint.

Excited to see what this will become! Thanks for reading. :) xo-Apes