Leopard:

Jan is working on inventory for the DSC and SCI conventions in January. She needed a large "central" painting. She wanted a very eye catching, vibrant painting, so she spent days going through her photos, sketches and notes, trying to decide what to do. Here you can see her going through her file draws where she stores all her photos, notes, and reference cards for backup information in her library. Switching to digital has changed her filing system somewhat, in that before she filed ALL of her photos. Now she prints the best one or two in any series of photos, with numbers written on the back that correspond to where the photos are in IPhoto in her computer. That way she can pull up the number and find any other photos in the series that she may need.

As you all know, Jan and James do all their own reference and research work. Jan NEVER buys other people's photos, nor copies from books as some artists do. All her work is done from her own experiences. Here is a photo of a wonderful encounter that James and Jan (and the group they were leading in Kenya in 2007) had with a leopard in Samburu National Park. They watched the leopard (there were actually two about a 1/4 mile apart) up in the tree, then he came down, walked by Jan's vehicle and then up to the vehicle James was in. That's when Jan snapped this picture. Look for the leopard's tail to see how close it was!!! James actually had to lean back to be able to take a photograph of it, as it was too close for his lens. It then passed around the back of the vehicle and climbed another tree. All told, the group spent over an hour watching this leopard.

Jan does a drawing to the scale and size of the painting - in this instance 24 x 36", on tracing paper. She does the animal and main elements of the landscape. This drawing is attached to the top of the panel she has gessoed (gesso is the "ground" applied to the surface of canvas or painting board before paint is applied) with masking tapes as "hinges". She then can flip the drawing back and forth as necessary to transfer necessary elements to the painting surface. You can see the main reference photos that she is working from at the left of the panel.

The leopard has been masked off with an artist masking fluid and saranwrap to keep a clear smooth surface while Jan paints the background. The far off green tree line has been started.

Jan is now lying in the under "organic" texture for the foreground of dead leaves, sticks and dirt. To create this texture she crumples cellophane into the wet paint.

Jan has now used her drawing to transfer over the palmetto plant on the left. She has then blocked it in white. The masking materials have been removed from the leopard, and he has been painted over in a dark brown/purple underpainting.

It is now time to transfer the drawing to the blocked in cat. Here you can see the white artist transfer paper that Jan uses under the tracing paper.

The drawing of the leopard has been transferred. Notice that no spots have been drawn in yet. Jan will do the main coat first in sections, and then add the spots as she goes. You will see this demonstrated in this posting.

Jan likes to do the eye first thing - to establish "life" in the animal. The "soul" and life are in the eye, and Jan feels if she can get the eye right - the rest will fall into place.

Here Jan has stared the drawing of the hair coat in off white paint. Jan likens this to building the foundation of a house. While a lot of the work in the end will be covered up, it is needed to establish depth to the coat, and also delineate the "hair tracks" - that is - the direction that the hair grows. This is the most time consuming part of any painting. In this photo the head and neck as well as the back leg and tail have been "drawn in".

The under "drawing" is complete on the leopard.

Jan has now done a brown wash over the entire leopard in preparation for doing the final detail work on the leopard's hair coat.

Here the face of the leopard has been completed without the spots. The spots have been transferred from the drawing with the white transfer paper.

The spots have now been completed on the face. Jan will continue this technique - doing sections at a time of the main (artists call it the local) color of the area, then add the spots.

Jan is continuing to work on the leopard. Here she is working on the chest area. Notice that she really doesn't paint in each individual hair with a tiny brush, instead she "splays" out and old worn brush to create sections or "clumps" of hair.

Half of the leopard is now complete.

Jan has begun work on the complicated palmetto plant. It is almost like doing a puzzle - looking carefully at the photo to carefully lay in all the crossed fronds and different colors and shadows! Jan actually does this like a watercolorist does in vibrant washes that make the light "glow" through them. Take note - that sometimes she works her paint as an oil painter would - and sometimes as a watercolorist does. This is one of the advantages of Acrylic paint - that it is very versatile and allows for many different techniques - all in the same painting! That is why Jan loves Acrylic - it allows her to create the textures, light and color she is after without being constrained by the properties of the paint ie: the slow drying time of oils, and the impermanence of watercolors.

Here's a look at all the reference photos Jan is using on this painting. You can see the two main ones in the front of the leopard and right above it the palmetto plant, but Jan pulled lots of other reference photos of plants, ground cover etc. She does not believe in making anything up - she wants verisimilitude in her paintings. Jan believes that when artists create things out of their minds, rather than looking at the way it really is - the painting simply does not have the ring of truth, something she strives for in her work.

Here is the completed painting - "SOMETHING SPOTTED". It is 24 x 36 and will premiere at the DSC convention in January.