I will be away for a few days so I had to take orders to the post office, encountering the local traffic jam on the way.
So a simple blog this week on hedgehog eyes. x
People often comment on the eyes of the animals I paint. I thought I would share with you a quick blog on how I painted 'Harry' the hedgehog's eyes.
Eyes are such fun to paint and when they work, it feels like magic. I always tend to paint them first, and these are my reasons, but I know people do leave them till last too. There are no hard and fast rules. I paint them first because I have the most energy and concentration at the beginning of the day, at the beginning of a painting. I also feel that is they go 'wrong' I can start again, which can be even more disappointing at the end of a painting
Frist draw your hedgehog, and get the eyes positioned in the right place.
Then I use cerulean blue, and a very fine brush. The better your brush the finer point it will achieve, and that is how you paint the detail I leave a small bit of white in one corner ( can you have a corner of an eye? ) oh well you know what I mean.
Then I go in with a darker colour in this case, burnt umber
Then darker still, a mixture of sepia and indigo. This ids almost black. I add the pupil and a go around the edge of the eye. It is all still a bit damp, I also take out a bit of colour with a damp clean brush just under the pupil.
I take my time adding little bits and taking others away till he really looks like he can see me.
Then I fix the eye in his head, noting the colours around the eye, how the eye sits in it's place, I paint carefully around the eye, noting where the darker colours are. The more you do the better you get.
I love painting them and they really make 'Harry' come to life.
Now I need to get on and paint the rest of him
colours used cerulean blue, burnt umber, sepia, indict, yellow ochre, , cadmium red, cobalt blue