Baby Giraffe - completed

BABY GIRAFFE

22" x 30" on 140 lb. Arches

closeup of BABY GIRAFFE

(click on pictures to enlarge)

I'm baaaaacccckkkk - and want you to know that I had a great time on vacation! We visited my daughter and her family in Guadalajara, Mexico AND we also spent almost a week at Paradise Village (a resort) in Nuevo Vallarta. It was so hot and humid... I loved it! I finally felt like I experienced summer! We were on the beach and in the ocean each morning, then into the shady part of the pool later in the day when it was too hot to be out in the open. The ocean is so warm there that it literally feels like walking into a big bathtub. In fact, my husband said it was warmer than he takes his showers!!!

After supper, we went for long walks on the beach, and just relaxed. One night we walked a long way down the beach to where there is a turtle sanctuary /reserve. The kids got to release baby turtles into the ocean. Late every night volunteers go out and rescue the eggs which female turtles lay, and bring them back to the sanctuary. They bury them in the sand in neat rows with little markers for each one. When the eggs hatch, the caretakers keep the baby turtles until just after the sun sets before they are released. That way, the turtles' chance of survival is higher... especially from the birds which are not as numerous in the dusk. Each night, there is opportunity for those who have attended the talk and demonstration to actually take one of the little turtles and place it behind a line in the sand. Then the baby turtles flap their way through the sand and into the water. It was so wonderful to see those little creatures bobbing on the waves - little dark patches floating out to sea.

The drive to and from the beach was long and windy, up and down mountainous terrain - with 2 out of 3 kids getting carsick. But they were all troopers, and it was great to be together again. Our flights to and from Mexico were the smoothest I have ever experienced, so all in all, I can say that this was one of our best holidays ever.

Now that I am back, I have completed the painting of Baby Giraffe. Three years ago this summer, I took a picture of this little giraffe in the San Diego Zoo. He is part of my "pouring series" which is where I do several pours of pigment on the paper before I begin my painting. This sets lights and darks in various places on the paper. Two other creatures, African Elephant and Rhino are a part of this series. I do have plans for more paintings in this series, but they may be a while in making it onto my easel.

If you are interested in Baby Giraffe, or commissioning a similar painting, please contact me: jogiesbrecht@gmail.com

Baby Giraffe - next stage

Now Baby Giraffe is beginning to show his personality!!!! Quite a bit has been done since the last post. I have worked on the mother's coat quite a bit, added to the baby's mane, worked on his little horns, and have now begun the shading in his face area.

Some of the facts that you may not know about giraffes is that each giraffe's coat is individual and acts like our fingerprints. The gestation period is 15 months, and the calf also nurses for 15 months. A baby's horns are flat against its skull when it is born, and they pop upright during the first week of life.

I am hoping the next time I post this baby, he will be completed... but I am not promising anything! :-)

Baby Giraffe - a WIP

I am continuing to work on Baby Giraffe as another of my African Animals series. You can see that I have removed all the mask from the baby, and now the results of the pours of color that I began with are fully revealed.

Here the Baby has the first pass of color on him and his mane. I will now be working on darkening the mother's coat before beginning the face detail of the baby... I need to set the colors against which he will "pop out". I am finding that although these pieces are large and take a lot of work/time, the creatures seem to have personality which is just waiting to come to life on the paper. This little guy is the sweetest of the series so far. I can hardly wait to get to the place where I can paint his eye! Then he will really come to life. :-)

Baby Giraffe

So here is the painting after the final pour of primary colors.  This provides the undercolor for the placement of lights and darks.

And here is the next stage where the mother's coat has its first pass and the background is in place.  I am about to remove the masking from the baby and begin on its features.  My next posting will have the first and maybe even the second pass of color done!

Pouring Technique for Baby Giraffe

Here you see the first pour of the primary colors on Baby Giraffe. First, I wet the entire surface with clean water, then I poured the diluted paint where I wanted that color. I lifted the paper and manually manipulated it until the colors mingled and produced secondary colors - but this is a wild and unpredictable process. One can only hope that colors are in the approximate place you chose for them.

Here is the result after I have allowed most of the paint to run off the painting. It will now dry and await the second and third pours where I will add more of the same primary colors.  I used Aureolin,  Quinacridone Rose and Pthalo Blue... but next time I will vary the strength of each according to what I want to accomplish for the underlying colors. 

Once the next pours are completed and dried, the painting with brushes begins.

New Watercolor WIP - Baby Giraffe

I have begun a new 22" x 30" watercolor on 140 lb Arches paper, which I have discovered I really like for this "African" series I am doing. African Elephant was on 300 lb. Arches - which is beautiful paper, but which has become quite expensive. I painted Rhino on 140 lb. and liked how well it stood up to all the texturizing I did, so I am going to see how it works for this painting as well.

This is the third and perhaps the final in this series of creatures. They are all based on photos which I took while at the San Diego Zoo a couple of years ago. On that day, the baby giraffe was outside with its mommy, and I got this gorgeous shot of it against the mother's hide. The baby was quite active in spite of the heat - lots of energy to burn off.

I am beginning the painting once again with masking off the areas I want to remain white when I do the first pouring of color over the entire surface of the painting. I will be pouring 3 primary colors - red, blue and yellow - to create light and shadow in the painting. After 3 different pours of color, and removing different areas of masking at different times in the pouring process, I will be ready to begin actually putting brush to paper. And that is when the real fun of creating begins ... seeing my vision come alive as I work the paint on the background of poured colors. I will be posting Baby G. as the stages progress. 

As I work on this large painting, I will also be doing some more small watercolors in series (like I did with Pears and Apples), and hopefully some acrylics or oils on panel in the style of Catch.