Zee Zebra, Sold

And here it the last one of the custom series. Painting a highly patterned animal offers the challenge of distinguishing  pattern from form. It's especially difficult when the pattern acts to hide the form as happens with some wild animals where the pattern acts a camouflage, blending the animal in with it's surroundings. The way to do it, of course, is to pay close attention to how the form is affected by light and shadow. In the zebra, The black stripes are only truly black in deepest shadow and the white stripes only truly white in the brightest light.

6x6 oil on Raymar canvas panel

Sparky, a Challenge

I painted this in response to a Daily Paintworks Challenge. It was subject I would not ordinarily choose and the challenge required limiting my palette to Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and Titanium White, but I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.

6x6 oil on Raymar canvas panel  
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Stacked

The bottom cup has a dark blue rim on the interior. You can't see it, but the reflection of the blue is there, and it made the shadow on the upper cup a cool gray. This, combined with the reflections of the cherries, is what made this setup interesting to me. I seem to have run out of catchy titles recently. Hopefully this is just temporary.


6x6 oil on Raymar canvas panel  
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Pandemonium

After a couple of successful animal paintings, I felt ready to move on to a still life. I found this little panda in the thrift store and had to paint it. I'm still experimenting with a dark dominant composition and I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with them.

6x6 oil on Raymar canvas panel  
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