Sheepish

Here I am, finally getting around to posting about some work! This was created before the idea for this master project came about, but I used materials I already had to make these, so the "elimination" concept was already at work. And while I get other items started this should prove that this is an endeavor I'll be pursuing consistently.


Last winter I did some substitute teaching, and on one occasion the whole day was spent administering math tests. I had not anticipated this so, for lack of other diversions, I started doodling to pass the time. The clouds I sketched inspired me to create simple sheep based on the same design. It's a silly whimsical thing, but I like how the sheep kind of mirror the clouds above.

Then over the summer I wanted to make some decorations for the baby's room and thought it would be fun to make the pen drawing into a painting. Adapt the sketch to a bigger, better, and more displayable idea, and use a small canvas and wood panel in the process!

I was really pleased with how the sky turned out in this painting, since I got just the effect I wanted with the palette knife (in the lighter blue above the hill top).

This was a "detail" painting. The original wood panel had a layer of green paint on it already, so I wanted that to come through the blue paint I added so it would complement the original painting well. I'm really pleased with the sheep's "wool" in this one - I like how it has a good amount of texture and how it echos the clouds from the original painting, too.

As far as the materials go, I think I enjoyed painting on the wood panel (single sheep) more than the canvas. I think that's because the panel surface started out smooth so I could completely control how I wanted the paint to lay on it. Canvas has its own texture and I tend to thin my paint out a lot so it's hard to not have that texture show up in the painting somewhere. I used acrylic paint, which I loved. It dries quickly and I'm familiar with its qualities so it was easier to get the overall results I wanted. I worked with the palette knife more than I have in the past, so I did get some of the paint down in nice thick layers. I learned that I do like the rough, choppy texture that can be achieved easily with the knife too.

I'm a little obsessed with texture on this one, huh? What do you think of the paintings - are they suitable only for a baby's room? And the signature - is it distracting from the painting (or just vain)?