News — olivia beaumont

"I said 'pig'," replied Alice; "and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy!" "All right," said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone. -Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Preliminary sketch: Snow leopards are endangered. I wanted to reference the natural environment so I focused on the Tian Shan mountains. Wild tulips and small wildflowers can be found after the last frost. I chose the Grisaille method of painting. Here I am preparing my color glazing palette to glaze over the dry Grisalle painting.  After the first glaze I use dry on wet paint to build rich color and eventually paint details. "Senka": Because snow leopards are so elusive I chose "Senka" meaning "shadow" for this queen's name. copyright 2016 Olivia Beaumont

 I'm excited to write about drawing as part of the painting process because I've worked hard all year in this area. I've been trying to combat my impatient nature about sketching. Think about it, do you want to cover a surface with a little tiny pencil point that you have to sharpen every minute or a nice wide brush?! But, no! You can't think like that unless you want your poor draftsmanship to show up later. How are you going to answer when your worst critic (self) asks, "Did you fudge that right there?" Maybe I just have issues with...

This little guy is 8x10".  I have a lovely frame on order, and I am nearing completion. While I work on a title and wait for the frame I'm excited at the prospect of starting something new in the next couple weeks!