Eddie looks like a bouncer cat - apparently he was fearsome in his time, stalking the neighbourhood with his 'don't mess wiv me' face on. Sadly he's no longer the Godfather of his neighbourhood and his owners wanted him immortalised on canvas. I picked one of the photos of him in his prime to base my portrait on and started by painting a 16 x 20" deep-edged box canvas in yellow-ochre, raw umber and Paynes grey. After that had dried I sketched him in place, making his head the main focus and trying to capture that 'are you talkin to me?' look. I painted his eyes then started carefully applying texture paste to the white areas first, and then mixed with mars black and Paynes grey for the darker areas. I let it dry then started to layer up speckled areas of burnt sienna, raw umber and yellow ochre with my trusty old round hog hair brush. What I call the underlayer is now complete, ready for more refined detail. Keep watching, I've got a few on my easel at once at the mo, rotating to dry out!
Wonderfully crisp and always interesting! Wall Art Pictures
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