shoe thoughts

 Van Gogh did about a dozen shoe paintings in his 10 years of um, painting.  And I think that's kind of neat.

When Van Gogh was alive, peasant shoes would often have wooden soles and a whole different style of making them.  But they were still recognizably shoes.  And as the shoes are worn, they take on the characteristics of the wearer.

I usually mange to make a shoe last about 5 years of hard work on the farm.  This pair failed to protect me from a rusty nail that was hidden in the mud, so it's on the way to the trash.  But first, I took some photos and I wondered how hard it would be to paint it.  So I start with a drawing.  

And yes, the chicken is necessary.  

gonna try and paint cathy (it didn't go well)

 

I like Beam Paints a lot so I'm going to try these.  I begin by applying masking fluid for the parts I want to remain white.

Washy backgrounds are looking good.  Now, can I paint the chicken.

First layer, wet in wet to get the foundations down.  

A bit darker - remembering that watercolour values are more to do with saturation than blackness or whiteness.

Although this is getting away from me a bit.  

Let's add some details.

Um... yeh.  That didn't turn out how I expected.  Interesting and it is chicken shaped, but not Cathy.  I need to practice with the Beam Paints more because they are quite a bit more vibrant than I am used to.  

Cathy

 Cathy is one of our longest living hens, or was, I suppose.  She has a funny personality.  An introvert hen, who didn't like to spend any more time with other chickens than necessary but still had her favourite five that she stuck close to at night.  Each evening she would come to the door of the human house and peck at it until we came out and she would walk us to the hen house, chattering away about her day.  

This is charcoal and coloured charcoal (whatever that is) on toned paper.  

hobbit Mill

 

I take extreme pleasure in these tiny sketches.  I don't know why, but I feel like I can go into more detail and take my time more just because it's small.  

Although, I think I liked it better at the half way point.  Perspective  is hard.  

getting bigger

 peep peep

homework

 Finally, I'm starting drawing class.  It turns out all I can draw now is chickens. 

The homework was supposed to be basic shapes, but that got dull really fast. So I bought an onion.  

Lady in charcoal

 I really like how this one turned out.