Red Eyed Tree Frog - 5 -

Red Eyed Tree Frog - 5 - Part 4

red eyed tree frog - acrylic - painting process

So this is how the next espisode continues. I used mixes of Blue Lake and Phthalo Blue to paint in the blue areas you see here. Thin dilutions of Blue Lake were used to accentuate some areas on the frog body too.

Then I used mixes of Orange, Medium Yellow and Brilliant Red to paint in details on the "hands and feet" of the frog. Finishing off with just Brilliant Red to colour in the eyes.

Burnt Sienna was used in the central 'vein' of the leaf to bring it out more and define some of the shadow. I had high hopes of using washes of the same colour to brown up the leaves which I think are looking too blue... Something else required my attention - so this is where I'm up to for now...


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Red Eyed Tree Frog 5

Red Eyed Tree Frog 5 - Part 3

red eyed tree frog - acrylic - painting process - background

Nothing like a bit of viridian hue to liven up the background...
Again, I used various dilutions of the hue and like the way it has come out so far.

I decided to paint the background now before concentrating on the body of the frog - my reasoning being that when I do the final background, I can paint a definite and smooth line to make the frog stand out from the rest of the painting.


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Red Eyed Tree Frog 5

Red Eyed Tree Frog 5 - Part 2

red eyed tree frog - acrylic - painting process

I used a 'cheap' student acrylic called warm yellow to define some more areas of the frog - again, in various dilutions to help me when I get to 'fill in the gaps' later.
The same yellow was glazed over where the stem and leaves are.

Then I used a quality acrylic of light green to paint in the leaves.
I'm not too happy with the way the background leaf on the top left hand side came out so will be giving that some more definition soon.
And, this is where I'm up to...

Not sure if I should 'complete' the backgound first or fill in the body of the frog - not a major drama since this particular tree frog painting is one that I'm enjoying - it seems to flow a lot better for me than the other 4 I did. Practice does make things easier...
Already, I'm beginning to toy with the idea of doing a monochrome frog painting as my next project...


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Red Eyed Tree Frog 5 - Part 1

red eyed tree frog - acrylic - painting process

So begins the fifth tree frog painting that I am doing on 1metre by 80cm canvas.

Having painted horizontal versions so far I thought it time to go "long-ways" but hadn't yet found a picture that I like.
After drawing the frog on a white canvas I first used white fabric paint to outline the highlights.
This pic doesnt show it, but because the fabric paint is thick - it 'stands out' on the canvas. (I've found that if I'm aware of light and shadow from the start - and keep that in mind throughout the painting process then it is a lot easier [for me] to keep the painting grounded.)
Then I decided to add tonal features (using dilutions of violet) to see how it would turn out - and this is the result so far...
A good reference for shadow...


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