Tuesday, May 22, 2012

King of the Castle


King of the Castle
8x10 inches
Coloured pencils and ink on printed Stonehenge paper

This artwork will be the subject of an upcoming step by step tutorial on working with coloured pencils on printed Stonehenge paper. Doing backgrounds is often the boring part for me, as I love doing the detail and drama of the main subject, so printing on your art paper, (which is really no different to working on coloured paper) can give you another avenue for exploring creativity and having a bit of fun with your art.

This gorgeous Meerkat was a most obliging model when we visited the Canberra Zoo recently and he really did look like the King of the Castle as he lorded over all the Meerkats on the ground below.


7 comments:

Cindy Lane said...

Fantastic way of taking the "boring" out or painting/drawing!

I am not a fan of backgrounds either, and for my current work have decided that they just don't exist anymore. Like calories in broken Tim Tams....

Cindy Lane said...

Silly me, forgot to say that this little guy has bucketloads of character in his eyes! You always seem to catch the "essence" of your subject so effortlessly. I can almost smell him from here....

Unknown said...

Aww - thanks Cindy - not sure smelling him would be a good thing!!! Is your current piece the eggs, or is there another piece on the way? Backgrounds are BORING, but then again I'm always in awe of someone who has the patience to tackle backgrounds and add all that detail in as well :)

Cindy Lane said...

Yes, they rather pong a bit. The scent is reminiscent of a teenager boy's room.....

Working on some slimey critters atm. Days at my drawing desk are few and far between unfortunately. Meeting with a gallery owner today for the Calligraphy 30th anni exhibition, then seeing the manager of my local art store as he is leaving tomorrow :( (but a good chance to stock up on art supplies!), and having lunch with a fellow artist who would like to have a joint ex with me. Only problem is I haven't any ready!

Hermit in a cave as a career is looking good!

Unknown said...

Wow - you have so much going on - don't know how you do it and looking forward to seeing those slimy critters (I think!!!) :)

Debra Keirce said...

Another masterpiece Karen. Whether you are painting people or animals, you always capture the expression of your subject impeccably!

Unknown said...

Lovely to hear from you Deb and thank you so much for your really generous thoughts - just like you do amazing detail in tiny spaces impeccably!!! :)