A PAINTING JUST FOR FUN!

     After painting almost constantly for the past several months and knowing that my next one was going to be a portrait, I decided that I needed a break from in-depth work.  I started by looking through my reference file for something fun.  I found a couple photos of a zebra, just what I needed!  I have always wanted to paint one and it felt right.  So I got to work!

Can you see the background?  After drawing my zebra,  I painted some deep green all around it in a fairly thick coat using a large brush, then I dipped that brush in water and splattered the water over the paint causing it to run.  I also splattered yellow ochre over the background.  I let it all run until I was happy with the look and then wiped the paint off the zebra.  I let the paint dry and then started on the zebra.  As you can see, this is basically a portrait, or close up shot.

     I really liked this view of the zebra.  I found the stripe pattern and his turned head to be a pleasing arrangement especially with the abstract background.  A friend said his rear looked like a bulls eye.  I laughed and said "it sure does, but it leads you right to his head!"  It's interesting how just a little angle change in the black lines make it look as though his mane stands up from his neck, and how you can direct the viewers eye to the zebras eye with lines! I am enjoying this thoroughly!

     I darkened the lines around his rear and added more background green on his left.  But now that I look at it I think I liked it better when the lines on his rump were faded.  I will go back in and add more white on the top of his rump to the right of the black stripe down the middle of his back. I will basically make look like the previous photo above.  On the other hand, this painting is looking a little bland to me, so I want to spice it up some!

      I ended up taking a completely different route!  First I added more color to the background, then took the drips off the zebra and added color!  Some like it, some don't, but I have had some fun! What do you think?  I feel that he certainly looks real, except for the colors of course, but I also added a lot more paint drips to the left side of this painting!

   

"YIPES, STRIPES!"
14 x 11
low resolution

Now it's a painting that is lots of fun! Several prints of this one have already sold so I think I just might paint more animals with bright colors!