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This is how the giraffe painting ended last night, now it's very wet so I've got to leave before I put on the next layer.  The reason for that is that the underpaint will start to lift off and leave the painting covered in little bobbles and I dont like that.  You can see that his face is getting lighter and lighter and that's very necessary so that I can add the colours and patterns in one hit at the end.  I moved his left eye too and matched it up with the right one.  Hopefully at the end of the painting I will have it so that the viewer gets a facefull of snout and then notices the rest.  My Ostrich kind of does that too.  I think that when you look at an animal you can see it's character just the same as you can with human beings.  This one is a bit dosey.

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I started this one last night too, it is of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (Tim Burton's to be precise as played by Matt Lucas).  That Alice in Wonderland has some fantastic images in it.  As you can see from the gallery I have already done one of The Red Queen as played by Helena Bonham-Carter.  Strangely I'm not a great lover of the Johnny Depp character, I've seen a lot of artists doing that image.  I like the Cheshire Cat in this film too.  This is definately only underpainted as is still very faint and messy.  The underpainting is done in raw umber and white and the reason its like this is because I have gone over the top of another painting that I didn't like that was on this canvas.  I sanded it down first to make sure that nothing could show through, I've made that mistake before and it's wrecked another that I did.

 
 
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Yes I know, it looks really weird!  It will be a portrait of a Giraffe believe it or not.  This is ust the underpainting at the moment and it should only be raw umber and titanium beige but I got a bit carried away and added some brown on the end of the nose.  That will have to dry before I can go over it so I am working on his face in the background.  When it is finished I am hoping that the nose will be really prominent and everything else pushed right back.  I hope that it will make everyone laugh!

 
 
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Ben's Cookies is a chain of little cafe's, mainly in the South of England (I think).  We have one in the middle of Leamington Spa which is a brilliant place to go and just hang out with a coffee and cookie.  The staff are really nice and I have never known them to be any different.  The coffee is great value for money, for £1.40 you can get your whole day's caffeine intake (as many mugs as you want).  There is quite a community that all go there every morning, all know each other to pass the time of day and worry about each other if they go missing.  My husband loves the cookie's and always has one, I will have a corner of his but a whole one is too much for my savoury tooth, that's not to say that they are not really nice.  This painting is now hanging in our Ben's Cookies in Leamington, they say that they really like it, I hope so because I worry about stuff like that.  I handed it over all wrapped in a big carrier bag and instructed them that they could only open it up after I had got my coffee and gone to sit outside.  Silly arse!

 
 
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The frame has really made this painting very pleased with it.

 
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This one has also just come back, it's been gone a couple of weeks and I was starting to regret sending it because I couldn't remember it being worth it, if you know what I mean.  I'm really happy with the results, the framers have done a grand job!

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...and this one, really pleased with the framers efforts.  All three are off to different places and I will let you know later where they are.

 
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He's almost finished, just got to add some highlights to the eyes.  I've finally managed to get those eyes looking how I want them.  They are done with yellow ochre, burnt umber and black for the middle.  I wanted them to look glassy and hopefully they do.  I love the expressions that animals have in their faces when you look hard at them.  The image that I have taken this from is a photo that I took of an Ostrich at a zoo in Northern Spain a few years ago.  I didn't have to get too close because I could home in with the camera from a distance.  I think it still spotted me though and gave me this look.  It reminds me a little of a celebrity caught by the camera when they weren't expecting it.  What a grumpy old bird he is!

 
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I think I must be going through my animal phaze at the moment because I have started another.  This is the underpainting of a Giraffe and, once again the most prominent feature will be his snout and eyes.  This is only marked out on the canvas in raw umber and white at the moment and I will continue today building up the face in this monotine style until he is where I want him to be and then start putting in the colours.  I'll keep you posted, thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to take a look at my site, I really appreciate it.

 
 
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I actually have got some more work done today.  I am working on the eyes of the Ostrich and have also tidied up his feathers and beak.  Rather than him being depressed now I think he's just got attitude.  The colours I have used are burnt umber, yellow ochre,black and titanium white.  This will now probably take another week to dry off because of the use of black paint, which is usually a nightmare to dry off.  Then I will be able to carry on doing some more work on the eyes.  I them to look a bit like big marbles.

 
 
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Sorry I have not put anything on for a couple of days but I didn't really have anything new to add.  I have now finished this still life for a cafe in Leamington Spa called Ben's Cookies.  I only hope that they like it, that'll be embarrassing if they dont.  I discovered something about me whilst doing this painting, I cant write in paint!

 
 
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Well my Ostrich is still drying, as there was a lot of paint put on yesterday,  so I have had to start another.  This one is called "It wasn't me" I think you can probably tell that it is another puppy dog picture.  I have started with the usual black and white and I am now colouring him.  The underpainting was done in raw umber and white and the colours I am now using are raw umber, yellow ochre and titanium white.  When this has dried I will be adding black as well.  Now I'll just finish eating my cheese and onion crisp sandwich before carrying on.

 
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Here is the start of a new painting, this one is quite big again it's 20"x30" and is in oil.  This is a depressed Ostrich, he certainly looks depressed doesn't he.  I have started with the usual raw umber and white so that this underpainting dries really quickly.  It is going to be a heavily textured painting, meaning that the paint is going to be quite thick and, of course, the usual treatment for the eyes.  That is where the main character of the animal will be.

 
 
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I dont know if my screen is too bright but this looks a lot lighter on here than it does in real life, I'll leave it because if I make it much darker it might end up being a black screen for everyone else.  I'm just about done with this I might have to sink the cherry into the hand a bit more but I'll look later when it's a bit drier.