Hedgehog ( eyes)

 Oh the joys of raising teenagers. We have 2 here both sitting exams in the summer for the first time one doing his A levels the other her GCSE's. The last few weeks has been hectic , finally managing to take part in the schools annual production, after months of rehearsals. ....then the inevitable happened and both tested positive for covid.

Perhaps it is a good thing as it has made them both slow down for a few days, luckily they both seem relatively well, and so far neither me or my husband have tested positive.

Who thought these little things would become a part of our everyday lives ?

We are lucky, we have managed to carry on as normal, me in my little studio, My hubby working from home in the spare on call for cups of tea and reassurance. It seems weird to separate yourself from your kids, but much of our lives have been weird  lately.

I have continued to take orders to the post office, encountering the local traffic jam on the way.

Also have carried on my my soul restoring daily walk, marvelling at the beauty of my Mid Devon countryside as I go

So a simple blog this week on hedgehog eyes. x

 

People often comment on the eyes of the animals I paint. I thought I would share with you a quick blog on how I painted 'Harry' the hedgehog's eyes.

Eyes are such fun to paint and when they work, it feels like magic. I always tend to paint them first, and these are my reasons, but I know people do leave them till last too. There are no hard and fast rules. I paint them first because I have the most energy and concentration at the beginning of the day, at the beginning of a painting. I also feel that is they go 'wrong' I can start again, which can be even more disappointing at the end of a painting

Frist draw your hedgehog, and get the eyes positioned in the right place.

Then I use cerulean blue, and a very fine brush. The better your brush the finer point it will achieve, and that is how you paint the detail I leave a small bit of white in one corner ( can you have a corner of an eye? ) oh well you know what I mean.

Then I go in with a darker colour in this case, burnt umber 

Then darker still, a mixture of sepia and indigo. This ids almost black. I add the pupil and a go around the edge of the eye. It is all still a bit damp, I also take out a bit of colour with a damp clean brush just under the pupil.

I take my time adding little bits and taking others away till he really looks like he can see me.

Then I fix the eye in his head, noting the colours around the eye, how the eye sits in it's place, I paint carefully around the eye, noting where the darker colours are. The more you do the better you get.

I love painting them and they really make 'Harry' come to life.

 

Now I need to get on and paint the rest of him

 

colours used cerulean blue, burnt umber, sepia, indict, yellow ochre, , cadmium red, cobalt blue