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Emily in Progress

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-09-01T19:45:54-07:00

I'm working on a portrait of Emily:

In this portrait, I'm bringing a black and white photo into color. I did this once before in a portrait of a woman a few years ago. Since Emily has yellow tones in her coat, I started with a purple underpainting:

Next, I painted the golden tones over top. I used Yellow Ochre, Titan Buff and a bit of Burnt Umber mixed with white. When I converted the original sketch to a headshot pose, I realized that I needed to adjust some things as I went. I started with her eyes looking too small, since the sketch didn't really capture the dark areas around her eyes. The face also looks too wide due to the original pose, so I painted over some of the layers around her face. Later, these will be covered completely by the background.

Once I fixed the edges of the eyes and added the black under her nose, the portrait started to look more like Emily. Here she is with more layers of yellow and brown:

I added the tongue and refined the dark areas in her eyebrows with more layers. Next, I'll start on the finer detail to bring out the texture of her fur.

Dachshund Portrait, Finished

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-08-02T12:02:28-07:00

I'm finished my portrait of Dogster contest winner Bear, a beautiful rescued senior dachshund. Dogster's contest on the Dog Blog paid tribute to senior dogs. Here's Bear's finished painting:

I tried to capture the lovely white "frosting" on Bear's face, which is visible in the original photo. Here's a 2 minute video of Bear's painting from start to finish:

At about 0:52 you can see a closeup of Bear's eyes being painted. I'll be posting progress shots with detailed descriptions soon. Congratulations Bear!

Leave No Trace Article

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-07-19T18:48:47-07:00

I'm featured in the July 2010 newsletter of Leave No Trace! Read the article here.

Leave No Trace is an international nonprofit dedicated to environmental stewardship via access and education. If you've visited one of the National Parks you've probably seen their info on how to minimize your impact while enjoying the backcountry. Travis and I have been long time supporters of their work, and we donate 10% of the profits from my card sales to Leave No Trace.

You can also look through our backpacking photos and see the places we visit that inspire my paintings.

Dachshund Portrait in Progress

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-06-29T18:51:37-07:00

I'm back from traveling and I've been working on my portrait of Bear the dachshund from Dogster. Here are Bear's original photos:

I experimented with several poses, and decided on a square headshot portrait. I made a quick sketch of Bear, then transferred my sketch to the canvas and began filling in the underlying layers of her coat.

I've been filming video of the process, which I will post as a speed painting when the painting is done. I've posted some stills from the video below.

I almost always use a purple or pink underpainting to bring out the depth in dogs' coats. For Bear, I used a mixture of Dioxazine Purple and Violet Oxide, which is a brownish purple. I marked in the areas of high contrast around her face, and begin painting in her eyes and nose.

After mapping in the overall proportions of her face, I made a brown mixture for her fur. This mixture will almost completely cover the purple, leaving only hints of it behind, but the purple layer also serves as guide for me so I don't distort the proportions.

With the brown and light areas mapped in, I started on the detail. This early stage of the painting should be done very quickly, with a big brush, so you don't get carried away with details. The idea is to map out the whole figure first, then start on detail.
Now that the overall shape of Bear's face is blocked in, I will switch to a smaller brush and begin work on her eyes.

Print Store Now Open

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-05-23T20:07:29-07:00

We've launched the new print store! We're now offering higher quality borderless digital prints in three sizes and two finishes in our new online store. Online orders are fulfilled by SmugMug and are usually shipped within 24 hours.

Print Prices:

8" x 10" - $16.00
11" x 14" - $30.00
16" x 20" - $64.00

Congratulations Bear!

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-05-11T18:47:07-07:00

Rescued Dachshund Bear is the winner of the Dogster Dog Blog's contest celebrating senior dogs. Bear's family will receive one of my custom 16"x20" portraits.

Here's a photo of Bear, although her family may choose a different photo for the portrait:

You can read her touching adoption story on the Dog Blog. I will be on vacation starting next week, but Bear's portrait and video will be completed after I return in June.

Finished Dog Painting with Video

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-05-03T14:08:19-07:00

I'm finished my portrait of Little Ann, the cute Chow mix from last month. Here she is:

I filmed video of the process and sped it up into a very quick speed painting video. You can see the whole painting from start to finish:

The Dogster Dog Blog recently ran a contest celebrating older dogs. I'll be donating a 16"x20" custom portrait to the winner. Today on the Dog Blog, you can see a selection of the beautiful stories and photos that people have submitted. More photos and stories will follow this week. A winner will be drawn at random next Monday, and I'm looking forward to painting their portrait.

Chow Portrait in Progress

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-04-23T14:39:36-07:00

I'm nearly finished my portrait of Little Ann. I've been filming the painting and will have a video to post when the painting is complete.

Little Ann has a sandy colored coat with a lot of depth to it. I started by painting in my usual purple-toned underpainting. For Little Ann, I used rusty undertones around the ears and nose. Here's a still from the video, with my easel in the background:

Next, I painted in the high-contrast areas of her face using black and dark brown. Once I was happy with the overall size and positioning of her features, I started on the fur texture. Up to this point, it's wise to use a medium to large brush and work quickly, so you don't get bogged down in details.

With fur and hair, I find it's easiest to paint in the darkest tones first and add lighter layers on top for a three-dimensional look. I added lighter and darker layers while the paint was still wet, so that I could adjust the blending in. Too much blending will result in a flat look, so don't overdo it. With acrylics, it's helpful to add a bit of blending medium (also called retarder) to your paint to slow the drying time.

I added some whiter areas around her eyebrows, and darker areas around her ears. Here's my portrait of Little Ann, just before adding the background:

Chow Portrait Sketch

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-04-09T14:39:07-07:00

I'm working on a portrait of Little Ann, a Chow mix. I'm going to be painting a simple head-shot portrait that captures her unique face. Here's the original photo:

I made a simple line drawing to verify the pose. I think I'll add Little Ann's collar to the painting.

The Dogster Dog Blog is running a contest right now to celebrate older dogs. I'll be donating the prize: a custom 16x20 portrait of the winner. I'm not involved in the selection, which will be determined by a random draw, but I'm excited to paint the winning dog. You need to be a member of Dogster to enter, but anyone can join for free. To read the rules and enter, visit the contest thread and submit a photo and story:
Dogblog Old Dogs Contest
The contest ends on April 25, and I'll be featuring the winner's portrait on this blog. Good luck!

Kitchen Scene in Progress

kathryn@bealsstudios.com — 2010-02-26T09:35:16-08:00

I'm working on the illustrations for a children's book written by my father-in-law. Each of the five chapters in the book will have a large full-page illustration showing what each character is doing in a busy scene at the same time. The rest of the chapter will be filled out with smaller illustrations. The story is about a young family preparing for a move as they await the birth of a new baby. Here's the scene at the start of the second chapter:

I mapped out the kitchen (above) using sketches and images pulled into a Photoshop composite. I like using Photoshop to experiment with my compositions because I can move, rotate and scale the elements easily without having to redraw them. I transferred my composite sketch to the canvas and began painting in the hardwood floor. To give the floor a smooth appearance, I needed to make long brush strokes without awkwardly painting around the many things on the floor.

I marked the edges of the cabinets with masking tape. I painted masking medium over top of the sketches of the girls, boxes and ferret, then painted in the hardwood floor. After everything dried, I peeled away the masking tape and masking medium and worked on other sections of the kitchen:

Here's the illustration so far:

The scene needs to look very busy so I plan to add more clutter and detail.