|
Most of my sheep paintings begin with a chuckle and a grin - usually during normal conversation and observations about the world surrounding me. Taking things that strike me as funny or worth commenting on are taken into my sketch book, which is my constant companion and recording device for my ideas, just so I won't forget any over time.
 In the studio, I tend to work fast, since I only have limited time blocks available to work uninterrupted. It also helps me keep from overworking a piece to the point where it looks sterile, though I do often put a "finished" painting aside and determine after a while that it needs some more touches to be complete. This way, I have paintings that took several months to be really finished. In most cases I start off by sketching in the sheep with burnt umber and some thinner, unless I'm working the sheep into a landscape, in which case I tend to complete the landscape to 75% first, then add the sheep, then finish off the total piece. Once the rough form and shadows are sketched in, I go immediately to adding color, light, shadow, values and details. Depending on how much paint is on the canvas by then, I either finish right away by adding lots of texture with highlights, etc., or put the painting on the drying rack to add those later.
My palette tends to be vibrant colors, usually with titanium white, lemon yellow, cad yellow light, cad yellow medium, cad orange, lukas red, ultramarine blue, pthalo blue, burnt umber and black. I do "accessorize" as needed though - for sunstruck, vibrant clouds I often use Old Holland Old Red Gold, because of it's transparency and luminosity, it lends itself wonderfully to shades of vibrant red to warm golden yellow, given the painting a warm glow. When I do use Old Red Gold, it's usually rubbed into the canvas with a rag and turps to create the cloud textures and color variations.
My medium of choice are professional artist grade oil paints - though I'm not too choosy about which company they are from. Most of the paints I use are Schmincke, Lukas, Gamblin, Winsor & Newton, or Old Holland - Old Holland's transparent Lak colors being my favorites.
Occasionally when time constraints on finishing a piece are imminent, I will jump to use Acrylics, though I'm not a fan of the handling of "painting with plastic". Drying times outweigh that negative though, so if I need the painting dry for transport in the morning, Acrylics it is.
I work exclusively on ready stretched canvas that is already primed, usually with staple-free sides to give the finished piece a nicer look. All my work is signed in the medium it is painted with, usually in colors used within the painting itself. All my paintings are sprayed with a light varnish after completion to protect them during transport and storage, and to give them a light sheen. 
Conni Tögel
|
