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"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

A few posts ago I shared this drawing. If you want to review how to make the leap from imagination to an imaginative drawing, use the link. King of the Mustelidae - Process I have outlined this painting process in previous posts. I'm going to try to hit different details this time. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section if I skip something you're curious about or would like to know a material name brand to try it for yourself. I transferred the drawing to a prepared wood panel. My favorite is Ampersand Gessoboard because it has...

A mahl stick is an instrument used to prevent a painter from touching areas of wet paint with the hand or wrist. It provides a surface on which to rest and steady the painting hand. This artist is holding a mahl stick and resting his right hand on it (Vermeer)   This artist clearly has a mahl stick next to his brushes (Rembrandt). You can find the mahl stick in many artist's self-portraits if you just look for it! Today I would like to show you how to make one. There are different kinds of mahl sticks but this is...

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...