Gorilla (New Art)

My last painting that's finished (I have two in progress) turned into this beautiful and intense gorilla. Some of you may have already seen him on Facebook, but I thought I'd show you some progress photos here.

He started out with a layer of light molding paste on canvas. You can see the texture in the photo below. When you spray that with water and then drip high-flow acrylics on it, it brings out really beautiful patterns. Hard to control, but then control is highly overrated...

I added some yellow, which mixed with the teal to make a beautiful green. I also added some phthalo turquoise for a little contrast.

When I turned the canvas to see what I might discover, I immediately "saw" a proud gorilla. Can you see it?

Once I know what I'm painting, the first thing I finish are the eyes. They help me connect to the rest of the painting and to the animal itself. Everything else flows from there. I had never noticed just how soulful and human gorilla eyes are!

Then came the rest of the face and the ear. The nose took the longest. Have you ever looked up close at a gorilla nose? It has so much dimension to it and folds and creases. Quite amazing, really! My challenge was to get it to look "right" without going into really realistic painting, which is not a direction I want to go in.

And there he is. A proud and strong gorilla!

Lean on Me!
acrylics on 9 x 12 inch canvas

***SOLD***

I'm linking this to the super fun and inspiring Paint Party Friday.

We have had some cold and rainy days and even today it's still cloudy and won't warm up for another few days yet. But by next week we are expecting more spring-like weather, which is much more normal for us.

I hope you are all faring well this intense winter, especially you all in the northeast! Stay warm and cozy!!

With lots of love and appreciation for you all,

❧ Silke