The Brotherhood - finished!

I have finished with "The Brotherhood".  Size is 18"x24". The original work is available through me (10% of the sale will go to a non-profit organization of your choosing if purchased directly from me) and I anticipate having prints available within the next few months.  If you would like to see more details from the piece visit it on my web site using zoomify (requires flash).

More on the brothers- almost done!

I am very close to calling this piece done, but a few little things are still bothering me.  I am at this time going to wait to give it the final fixative spray and put it away for a few weeks so that next time I look at it, it will be with fresh eyes.  It can be helpful to put works out of sight if you have been working on it for many hours as our mind gets into a state of being so wrapped up on the little things that it can no longer see the whole picture.  Sometimes after some time has passed either the solution to the problems will come to you or you will be able to look as the piece as a whole rather than parts.  I made the decision to add a 2nd more prominent tree on the left to counterbalance the central one. 

Continuing On...

The background continues to progress, hopefully growing into something that compliments the wolves rather than detracting.  Some have questioned the placement of the prominent tree being so central, and while this does go against general compositional rules when I tried moving it around in photoshop I found that when placed behind either wolf it looked like a post growing out of their heads and settled on central positioning as the most pleasant to my eye.  I am still developing the background and do not consider it completed yet.

As you may notice I have continued to make minor changes to the wolves themselves as well, adjusting values and adding more fur.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful holiday and lots of great food and good company!

The wolves themselves are pretty close to being completed, however I have decided to continue on with the dreaded background, as I think it will make for a more complete piece of work.  I am hoping to get an out of focus effect with the background, not an easy thing to do with scratchboard! 

A bit of glare on this photo...  stay tuned for the background work.

"Art and the Animal" Opens in Colorado at The Wildlife Experience

Today I went to pick up my large elk piece called "The Challenger" from The Wildlife Experience Museum, as it was in Colorado Gold show that has ended.  In the place of Colorado Gold is now Society of Animal Artist's "Art and the Animal" exhibit which will travel on to two additional museums throughout the next year.  Last Saturday was the opening for that show as well as "Small Works, Big Impressions" exhibit.  I was not able to attend the opening due to work (grooming) but Connie at TWE gave me a chance to look around today- both shows have some great work in them!  My piece, "The Hypnotist" is the cover image  for this years Art and the Animal exhibition catalog and being used for many promotional materials, which is a great honor!  In addition the work sold at the initial opening for the show in Kansas and won an SAA Award of Excellence!  It doesn't get much better than that!!

A bit more progress on the brothers (and even more work is done but too dark to take another photo tonight).  I am starting to get antsy to start on something new.

Another hour or two...

With the approaching holidays my days have been busy, but without too much time to make progress on the brothers. I did get a couple or hours to work on the fellow on the left building up more fur...  I am still debating the approach I will use for the aspen trees that will be in the background.

People always want to see close ups of how I do eyes... so as requested here is a much magnified (the actual size is about the size of a penny or smaller) image of one of the eye on the forward facing wolf.  As you can see it is still all just very fine lines!

More on "Brotherhood"

Continuing on in my journey with the pair of wolf brothers.  Still a long ways to go...

Want to know what tools I have use?

So far in this piece I have used quite a range of tools and blades...

#11 scalpel blade (very fine lines)

#11 exacto blade (fine lines)

#112 speedball scratchboard tip (medium lines)

#113 speedball scratchboard tip (heavy lines)

ultra micro fiberglass brush (soft fur effect)

Progression of Brotherhood

I enjoyed another evening getting to make more progress on "Brotherhood" last night. The reference photos (it is a composite of several photos) for this pair of wolves was taken at Rolling HIlls Wildlife Adventure in Salina, KS. This was the location of the opening for the 49th Society of Animal Artists "Art and the Animal" show. The Rolling Hills staff was fabulous and very accomodating and I got some excellent references (despite shooting through bars in many cases). They are even going to use one of my photos for a fund raiser that they have coming up.

First Posting

Welcome to the blog for Cathy Sheeter and Aphelion Art and Photography. I will try to post to it at a minimum of weekly with both photos and my artwork, tips and tricks, and the occasional posting of my Belgian Sheepdogs.

I started a new scratchboard a few says ago of two wolves called "Brotherhood". The size is 18"x24" on ampersand scratchbord. At this time I am planning on leaving it black and white. Here is where I am at on the first wolf.

Scratchboard is my primary art medium. For those not familiar with the medium it is a form of direct engraving where a layer of black ink is scratched away to expose a white clay layer below. By scratching more or less lines, thicker and thinner lines different textures and values are achieved.

Check back soon for more updates!