Lion & Sacred Ibis:

This is the "signature painting " that Jan has done for the her one person show at FORBES magazine galleries in New York. This was done a little while ago so is not a "real time" WHAT'S ON THE EASEL NOW - but Jan wanted to save it to show you right before the opening of the exhibition. This painting is being used on the cover of the invitation for the show.

Jan has learned that the best paintings come from nature - from actual experiences. She spends countless cherished hours in the field every year, observing and photographing. While she does sketch and do some field painting at times - these are really more artistic exercises to train the mind and hand. Jan works primarily from the photos she and her husband James take in the field.

This is a photo Jan took two years ago in the Maasai Mara in Kenya. One morning, Jan and James had seen two young male lions on a wildebeest kill. About an hour later while Jan and James were photographing hippos and birds at a hippo pool, one of the young males came walking through the grass, obviously coming to the water for a drink. The sacred ibises watched him warily, not that he was really the least bit interested in them, but he is - after all - a predator and worthy of ones attention. Jan knew immediately this had the makings of a great painting - light, story, tension, color, contrast and more!

Jan wanted to expand on the idea a little bit. She wanted to make the lion be a little more mature with a larger mane and felt his placement right in the middle of the photo was a little boring. She also wanted some movement. Jan and James had taken some photos of the ibis taking off as the lion got closer that Jan thought she could combine into a stronger idea. She did a "thumbnail" sketch to "gel" the idea in her head. The bottom "sketch" is the "abstract" concept of a strong V shape of the birds on the ground and taking off and the lion in a spot that in composition is called a "dynamic point".

This is what an artists job is - to expand on an idea from nature to create a strong piece of art. That is why Jan likes to reply, when someone tells her that her painting looks like a photograph, "It's really a step beyond a photo."

This is a large painting for Jan - 30 x 40". The logistics of working in a quick drying paint like Acrylic on such a big piece are tricky. This is why, basically, Jan "painted it in her head" for over a year before tackling it. Here the drawing is done to size on the tracing paper. You can see a piece of the white transfer paper under the lion getting ready to transfer him to the painting surface.

Jan works on a neutral gray background. Most of the time, but not always, Jan masks off the main subjects with a masking fluid. Many people have asked the reason for this. It's a little complicated to explain, but basically Jan wants a "clean" smooth flat surface to paint fur, feathers etc. on. She finds it works best to mask off the main areas so that she can then freely paint the grasses or other landscape ACROSS the subjects, creating a uniform movement of paint (rather than trying to paint UP TO the subject and then stopping which would create outlines.) Then once this is done she can rub off the masking fluid to reveal the clean areas underneath. Some ask why not just paint the subject back onto the completed background. This could be done, but even though Jan paints smooth and flat, sometimes there are raised or textured areas that would be distracting under the subject. Hope you're not totally perplexed! But anyway, here the lion and birds are covered with both masking fluid and saranwrap.

The background has been loosely blocked in. Notice how the painting is done OVER the masked out subjects.

The background is finished and the masking has been removed from the lion and ibises.

The lion has now been blocked in with dark brown paint and the drawing transferred with the white artist transfer paper.

Jan "draws" out the hair coat in an off white paint. Here the lion's head is started. The eyes, mouth and nose are completed and Jan has started work on the face and mane.

Once Jan has "drawn" out the complete hair coat in off white paint, she does a unifying brown wash over the entire lion.

The lion is complete.

Jan has begun blocking in some of the ibises with dark brown paint and transferring the drawing.

This is an interesting look at several stages of a painting at once. The background, lion and ibises on the right are finished. The ibises on the left are blocked in with brown paint and the drawing is transferred. The flying ibises are still the cleaned off masked images.

Jan has begun detailing the flying birds. Here is a close-up of one showing the initial lying in of shadows in the wings, one of the most important elements of the painting.

This is the completed painting. It will be Jan's "signature" painting for her one person show at FORBES magazine galleries, "PAINTING SAFARI: Jan Martin McGuire's scenes from the African Wild".

It is 30 x 40" and is entitled "SACRED AND THE KING". This will be available as a new giclée canvas print - both full size as well as a smaller size.