Cerulean Shadows

Two of the most common questions I get are "How long did it take you to paint that?" and "How do you do that?"

Well, on the 'how long' part I usually want to say "My whole life" seeing as how I have been creating art since before I could toddle around and all of my experience culminates in my current project. Seriously though, I was never sure. I don't time a painting because it is usually done in pieces here and there in between working a full time job and keeping my home from becoming a toxic waste area. With Cerulean Shadows (the painting above) I finally decided to keep track. It turns out that it took me 32 hours to complete. This is from original sketch to final coat of paint on a 36x48 canvas using acrylic paint. Mind you that 32 hours was spread across 4 months of working on it here and there when I could. I started December 5th and finished March 8th.

I also decided to keep track of the 'How' part. The pictures above show the progression of how this painting came about, and quite frankly, this is how I paint in general.

1. I sketch on the canvas and usually work on the eyes first. The eyes are what the rest of the face is hinged on for me, so they need to be placed first.

2. I then take a larger flat brush and scrub in the rough colors and shading. It kind of ends up looking like a paint by numbers, with the colors more blocked in than blended.

3. Now I start working out the details in the back ground and work my way "forward". I do that because the closer parts of the painting will have detail that overlaps the backgrounds. In this instance, fur from the head and face will be feathered out and over the chest, and background detail so it should be done last.

4. Now I work in the details of the foreground.

5. I paint in the final highlights and make sure that the background, mid ground and foreground are all cohesive in lighting and color. I put my signature in at the very end.

"Cerulean Shadows" is the first in a series of mono-chromatic paintings that I am currently working on. The entire piece was painted using only ONE color (Pthalo blue) and then black and white to tone and tint. My next one is of a flamingo using only Acra Crimson. You can follow the progress of that one at my Facebook page Art by Anastasia.