November 2025 theme: gratitude

INSPIRATION

After my insight last month, I made a list of all of Michele Clamp’s animal watercolor tutorial videos. (I thought about starting with a simpler still life but was bored by the prospect. I chose to work with her watercolor fox tutorial

the paper I work with is 6 x 9”. It’s a good size for me to be able to reach with a brush held in my mouth. It does require me to adjust her layout.

Lessons from the video and notes (strategy):

• pencil drawing: get the shape of the snout and ears right. Put in the position of the eye and a light line separating the light part of the snout from the shadow.
• She estimates the value (dark/light) of the image (using a tool I can’t imagine using) to figure that “Our fox has a value 8 on the snout, a 6 on the head, a 3-4 in the shadow part of the snout and around a 5-6 on the shadow part of the white fur. Let’s keep these in mind as we do our painting.” [High numbers are apparently lighter.]
• She figures out hue and what colors she will mix to create what she needs. Tests.
• Start with the light orange (burnt sienna) on the head (8) going to a 6 on the top. Includes behind one ear. She softens the edges with a round brush. (I checked. It looks like that’s what my brushes are.) [Ear, eye, and lower part of the face are left white for now.]
• She mixes ultramarine blue and orange to make gray and adds water to get to the appropriate value (6). This goes on the lower snout and the neck, softening the edges.
• With paper dry, Add shadows with a sienna-blue mix. Value ~3. Softening edges. [Face, nose, mouth]
• paint the eye. Really pretty in her painting. Surround and pupil are very dark. Iris is the same value as the surrounding fur, with catch lights.
• Paint the dark ears.
• Adjust values (she darkened the white fur and ears.)

CREATION/session log:

• I made the drawing this morning. I tried to correctly position ears and snout. Positioning the eye was difficult. It’s in an area that’s difficult for me to reach. PCA Amber drew it in for me. We negotiated positioning and shape, so there was much trial and error (erasing and replacing). It was all done with good humor. When I come back, I may want to look at the mouth again. I am uncertain about those lines.
• We tested blue and orange hues and chose one of each. I started painting using orange for the snout and adding some blue fur shadowed areas. I tried to “soften edges” with a brush dipped in water. It’s looking a little “scrubbed” (overworked?) now, but we will see when we get back to it. Add shadows.
• Painted shadows with some brown, softening the edges with a wet brush. When I went to paint the gray of the neck, I got a little muddled with colors, as the blue I was using had been replaced with a dark green. When I started to paint what I thought was gray it was a bit green. Figured out what was going on and fixed the problem. [Note to self: don’t let the paint get put away between sessions! I think the snout is overworked. [PS add orange to the back?]
• Painted the nose and mouth and shadowed parts of the ears. I started asking Amber (PCA) to mix blue and orange to make a dark gray, but I ended up using black from the container. I just couldn’t get enough mixed paint on the brush. Next: eye, orange on the back and behind the ears, “fix” the neck (there’s something I don’t like about it), and look at the painting as a whole.
• Finished the painting by adding orange to the back of the ear and back, painting the golden eye, and blurring the neck a bit. I wish I had left more white in the face. I noticed that her painting and the photo differ in some ways, which confused my painting a bit.

INSIGHTS

• What surprised me?
  • How helpful it was to start with a drawing.
  • How much I compared my painting to hers (and found mine lacking, of course.)
• What have I learned?
  • To consider lights and darks and hues before starting and as I go along.
  • Sometimes it helps to mix paints, and sometimes getting the premixed colors is easier.
• What do I want to learn or try?
  • A part of me wants to break loose from tightness and semi-realism (of Michele Clamp) and paint freely with one layer of paint. Can I be free painting with my mouth? Another part of me said “stay the course.” Hmm…
• Thoughts about the theme. I am GRATEFUL FOR
  • being able to paint.
  • the beautiful animals I get to paint.
  • The photographers who take their pictures.
  • What I’m learning from Michele Clamp and her generosity posting the tutorial.
  • The paint I use and the people who make it, sell it, and get it to me.
  • Amber’s help, encouragement, and patience.