Return of the Tiny Art

I've been neglecting my art of late due mostly to wretched weather, and when I arose on Saturday to pouring rain, I decided it was time to stop moaning about how I couldn't go sketching outdoors, and to sit down at my art table and create something indoors.

Earlier this year I painted some tiny 3x3" lighthouses, and had so much fun that I went and bought a whole lot more tiny canvases.  And did nothing with them.  Clearly it was time to do more.  I had taken a photo last August of a young raccoon that appealed to me, and I had a 4x4" canvas that fit the composition.

Step 1:  sketch the raccoon onto the canvas

Step 2:  paint some random light and medium greens over the background in leafy shapes

Step 3:  Add bits of darker green for shadows

Step 4:  Toss in a twig or two, and add the little flowers by quickly dabbing blobs of dark, medium, and light rose around

Step 5: lay down a light gray over the whole raccoon except for the white fur, and then place bits of medium gray to sort of map out the light and dark areas.  It's at this point when I usually think about a painting, "Gosh, it looks like a big mess.  Will it work out?  I just don't know."

Step 6:  Add the black in short, tapering strokes to simulate fur.  Feel annoyed that all of your photos have too much glare.

Step 7:  Use the Really Tiny Brush to add details, such as whiskers.  Then try to find a place to take a photo without glare, and use a tea bag for size comparison.

Still too much glare!

Step 8:  Find a different spot.   At last, a glare-free photo!  Whew.

That was enjoyable, though I really want to get back outdoors to sketch.  Alas, it is getting colder every week.  I shall probably have to find more indoor art to tackle instead until Spring.