"Square Bear" - finished (almost)

Last week I finally decided it was time to finish my "square bear". I've just looked back at my blog posts and see that it was way back in December when I started this piece. Painting him was a challenge. The goal was to create the look of fur without actually having to paint the fur. At least not every strand. I'm trying to "loosen up". Bear paintings are on the walls of quite a few stores and restaurants in Western North Carolina. I've spent long moments studying how other artists paint bears. Many of them paint lots of tiny fur strokes. Not that it's a bad thing to paint tiny fur strokes, it's just that I didn't want to do that. And since this is such a close-up, I had a hard time keeping myself from getting into painting each individual strand.

The black was created with a mixture of VanDyke Brown and Winsor Blue - Red Shade (both from Winsor Newton). It makes a lovely blueish-black. I enjoy mixing my own blacks, as opposed to using a black directly from the tube. Lots of times I'll use Burnt Sienna and UltraMarine Blue. That combination makes a really "black" black.

The tan areas were a mix of Yellow Ochre and Naples Yellow, a bit of VanDyke Brown and Titanium White.

There are one or two small areas that need attention on this, not enough so that you could tell from the photo, and once I tend to those, it will be done. The "Square Bear" still needs a title, though. Any thoughts?

Once finished, the Square Bear will be re-titled and for sale for $450. Shoot me an email if you are interested.

I hope you made it to the Canine Art Guild's website to see the Mug Shots exhibition. If you haven't, here's the link again... www.canineartguild.com/gallery You'll find my painting, "Ollie", on the first page. Don't forget to vote! You'll need to leave an email address at the bottom of the page - this is just so they can make sure people only vote one time. The exhibition is full of wonderful dog portraits, so be sure to take some time to drop in.

Thanks for reading!
susan

www.susangarriques.com
susan@susangarriques.com