Finding the rainbow on a rainy day. . . . .

Hello again! I love rainy days some times. There is something wonderful about a rainy day stuck inside with craft supplies & Netflix. My last project was spur of the moment idea sparked on just such a day.

I love lions and have always wanted to paint one, so I went looking for a picture of one I liked. (BTW: isn't it wonderful how easy it is to find anything you want on Google these days?) Anyways, I found a few different ones & started sketching. Each picture has parts I liked better, so I took what I liked from each one.

Since I have not practiced drawing lions, I wanted to make sure it would look right when I did it. I focused on the proportions of the face, mostly. Once I felt pretty confident, I sketched the idea I had on my canvases. ( I used two small canvases because that is what I had lying around, but also because I like the effect.)

  

Now it is time to paint! I started out with a basic color coat. I used acrylic paints & mixed the colors to get the different shades I wanted.

 I decided to start with the face being red & moving in the rainbow colors as I worked my way to mane. I made sure to very the shades each color a little to show the different strands of hair in his mane.

Next was adding depth and shading/ highlighting to the picture.

I again began on his face and moved outward, varying how they are shaded.

I then outlined each strand with a black pen. This helped define each strand.

This was the most fun part for me. I loved thinking of new designs to make the strands. Some strands were left alone to show the color and some had line designs in them.

My next obstacle was his chin. I wanted it to look real/ soft, but also to be outlined to match the rest of the painting.

Here is what it looked like with all of the designs. So, the only thing left is. . . .

To paint the background!

I wanted it to be black for 2 reasons: To make the lion really pop off the canvas & because I used every other color at this point! haha!

Well, there it is friends. A fun painting (a great use of time when stuck inside on a rainy day!) I plan on painting different animals in the same manner to make a set.

Now it is your turn to get crafty!