First drawings with first notan study. Because the painting was to be late afternoon, I made the white of the notan gray so as to communicate a closer value.
Drawing of cow facing us.
Final notan.
The block-in in acrylic came first. I wanted the cows to blend with the background, so I did a flat two-value underpainting. I chose purple because both greens and oranges do a beautiful simultanous contrast with purple. Afterwards, I did a loose drawing of the cows.
This is to show how close the values are and that I'm keeping the darks at values 6 to 7, the light at values 4 to 5.
Working in oils now, I rough in the background.
Sorry about this bad focus, but you can see that I'm working on the darks of the cows, plus have started the halftones of the cow on the left.
There will be several out of focus shots here. I was trying a new camera setting. Didn't work, did it? Here I'm defining the halftone colors of the cows and begin to indicate where there will be shadows in the foreground.
Ah, that's better! I'm defining the background.
I'm working out the definition of the cow on the left, then beginning to mass in foreground colors.
I got so involved in the painting, I forgot to do my progress shots. Here she is finished. Generally, I work the background first, then darks, halftones and lights in the subject, then foreground. It doesn't matter which sequence a painter uses. This is the one that works for me.
"Sautee Herefords at Dusk"
