Wholly Cow Oil Painting by K Henderson

 

 

Wholly Cow, 14 x 14, oil on board

This painting was great fun to create. It has my vintage blocks, marbles, a ceramic cow, a marionette and a photo of a cow. It's everything a Cow Lover would want in a painting.

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It was Neither More Nor Less Than a Pig

It was Neither More Nor Less Than a Pig, 18 x 24, oil on cradled board

 The title comes from a line in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The white porcelain was more of a challenge than I thought it would be. And the chocolate pig is living in my freezer. I don't have the heart to eat him after he put in such hard work as a model.

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See more of my Contemporary Realism paintings on My Website  

It was Neither More Nor Less Than a Pig

It was Neither More Nor Less Than a Pig, 18 x 24, oil on cradled board

 The title comes from a line in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The white porcelain was more of a challenge than I thought it would be. And the chocolate pig is living in my freezer. I don't have the heart to eat him after he put in such hard work as a model.

If you missed my Work in Progress photos you can see them starting HERE

Available

See more of my Contemporary Realism paintings on My Website 

It was Neither More Nor Less Than a Pig

It was Neither More Nor Less Than a Pig, 18 x 24, oil on cradled board

This is the finished painting. The title comes from a line in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The porcelain was a bigger challenge than I thought it would be.

I hope you enjoyed the Work in Progress. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question

Porcelain Porcine - Day 5

Porcelain pigs, Work in progress

Still building up the colors, modeling the shapes, adding details

Porcelain Porcine - Day 4

Porcelain pigs, work in process

I decided to dull down the background a bit.I spent most of the day blending and smoothing the porcelain.

Porcelain Porcine - Day 3

Porcelain Pigs, work in progress

I skipped showing the image for day 2 because I think only I could tell that any progress was made. Day 2 was spent adding shape and form, darks and lights to the porcelain.

Here, at the end of Day 3, you can see that everything has started to solidify. The shapes are taking on more character.

More tomorrow

Porcelain Porcine - Work in progress

Porcelain Pigs, work in progress
I had a Need to create a painting with bone china or porcelain. My first thought was 'Teacups'. But as I browsed through my Cabinet of Curiosities I came across this sounder of pigs.

I draw the still life on a piece of tracing paper first then transfer the drawing onto the canvas or board.

Sometimes I do detailed monochromatic or Grisaille underpaintings and then build up the colors. This is a fairly monochromatic painting so I'm starting by blocking in the colors and the lights and darks.

This is how the painting looks at the end of Day 1

PB&J-work in progress

PB&J day 1, oil on linen, 30 x 40

I keep seeing other artists paint this subject matter and since Peanut Butter is one of my top 5 favorite foods, I thought I would throw my hat in the ring.

Some of my paintings are started with a monochromatic underpainting and built up with thin layers of color .I began this painting with large blocks of color which will also be finished with layers of detail.

WIP - Ball Jar

I wasn't planning on showing more images of this painting until it was complete but someone asked me about it so heres what it looks like today

Wholly Cow - demonstration - day 5

Here's the ceramic cow finished.Since I did a gray underpainting on the cow I didn't need to add much color. I added the pink and yellow and a few spots of a very thin blue which you may not be able to see.

To get the  lines on the blocks, I put a layer of color on the block and then used a white waxy colored pencil to remove the color (the pencil is not adding any color to the painting). 

I'm still building color on the marbles. Most of the colors are very transparent so it's slow to build up. I'm adding Liquin to may paint to make the color washes.

You can see the color that I've added to the table top for the reflections.

Tomorrow I will show the finished painting. Any questions?

Wholly Cow - demonstration- day 4

More of the same. Building up the underpainting. Looks like the cow and blocks are ready for the first layer of color.I've added a thin wash of color to the marbles.

Wholly Cow - Demonstration - day 3

More layering of paints on everything. I put a wash of color on the marbles. I added shadows on the background and continued adding darks and lights to give the items depth. And I added the "tape" to the cow photo. I'm really pleased with the way it came out

 

Wholly cow - demonstration - detail

 I've decide to show this demonstration focusing on the ceramic cow. This is what it looks like at the end of the second day. I've painted it a pale gray and started to add the shadows. I can still see the line drawing underneath. The blocks have the basic light and shadow and the marbles are painted white

Work in Progress - Wholly Cow

This is how I started this painting. I draw on a piece of tracing paper and when I'm happy with the drawing I transfer it to my gessoed board or canvas.  I then refine the drawing further and spray it with a fixative. Next, blocked in the background colorsand started building up the grays in the cow photo. I let that dry. Day 2 I added more to the background colors. Because my drawing was dark, I was able to add my first layer of paint on the object in my still life and still see the details underneath. I did a gray underpainting on the cows and an umber painting on the blocks. I painted the marbles white while I redefined their shape.

I'll add more as the painting progresses.

More details- final oil painting demo tutorial

And here’s a part of the painting that I haven’t been showing. You can see the differnet textures in the pants, the boots and the wood.

You can see a larger version of this painting here

Final -Oil Painting Demo Tutorial

Today I painted the final details. The details of the paper, the strings for the puppet. I added color to the face, details to the scarf and Howdy’s shirt

Oil Painting Demo Tutorial day 2

Today I put a neutral gray layer on the background. The Raw sienna still shows through. I also refined the badge, brightened the lower left corner of the paper (this is a copy of Howdy Doody’s patent), started defining the printing on the paper, added shadows and just started adding more details.

I won’t have my Demo tomorrow because I’m off to an art sow in Santa Fe at Gallery 822. Check back on Sunday. I’ll contiune adding detail and I’ll be adding more color

Oil Painting Demo Tutorial

I’ve had many people ask me how I create my paintings. I’ve decided its time to do a Show and Tell. This is my painting The Making of a Cowboy. I start by setting up a still life and photographing it. I use the photographs as well as the actual still life object to create my painting. You can see my marionette hanging from my easel.

I start by toning my background. In this painting I used a raw sienna. I then draw my still life on tracing paper and then transfer the drawing to my canvas when the toning layer has dried.

This image is Day 2 of my painting. I’ve done an underpainting of the puppet using white and raw umber. I’ve started the underpainting on the other objects

Questions? Feel free to contact me

Tomorrow: I’ll continue the underpainting , adding more details. Check back then