Wet Paint – Black Bear 1

This is the first in a series of posts as I work through my first black bear painting. The reference photos come from a trip to North Carolina.

Normally for something this complicated I wouldn’t have stretched the linen first. It is easier to mount the canvas on a flat surface for drawing than stretch afterwards. Instead of unstretching I bought a smooth painting panel that was 1 1/2” thick and placed underneath so I could have a firm surface to draw on.

Then I set about mixing greens. As this ins the underpainting the colors didn’t need to be exact; the subsequent layers would give me the colors I wanted.

This photo is after six days of painting. Looking for a change, the next update will feature the start of the bears.