A motorcycle nearly completed.....

It has been way to long since I posted an update on my painting! This flu season has sure slowed me down! Hopefully the Kleenexes have all been put away, and I can get back to some long days spent in the studio.....where every artist longs to be!

I have been able to get a lot done on the bikes, as one can see in the photo on the right. The leather jacket has been a lot of fun to do. I was sure that wasn't going to be the case, initially! It's coming out looking like a well worn and well loved leather jacket....I'm so pleased! As all watercolor artists know, watercolor has a mind of it's own, and it can do things you cannot plan or predict. In this case, the watercolor gods were with me!

Much more still needs to be done here. Several sections of the bike need to be filled in, and I need to deepen many of the dark areas with more layers of color....mostly Payne's Gray. Shadows will need to be placed under the people and the smaller bikes in the background, or else they will look like they're pasted on, or just floating in space.

More work to be done, but the end is in sight!

A new year, a new motorcycle painting......

Another motorcycle painting in progress! I took the reference photo of this bike at the Jim Kelly motorcycle run for Hunter's Hope several years ago.

Before the start of the run, bikers gather at a local plaza to check-in, fill out paperwork, get the route map, and just hang out until the official start. I always bring my camera to these gatherings- there is always a great assortment of bikes. Several members of the Buffalo Bills always participate, and Jim usually has a few celebrity friends along as well.

I always liked the photo that I took of this bike, with the leather jacket hanging off the handlebar and the helmet balancing on top. I hesitated to paint it initially......painting chrome is hard enough, especially in watercolor, but painting a leather jacket, too? I wanted to convincingly capture the chrome and metal effects of the bike, but at the same time paint the leather jacket and have it look so much like leather that you want to reach out and touch it. Using a different dark mixture for the leather than I use for the chrome proved to be the answer. I love how the leather is looking "worn"- just the effect I wanted.

The actual painting looks a lot darker than the photo. It's quite overcast today, and I really had to use a flash. Next time I'll use natural lighting.

Back to work!