Teddy Bear Still Life

Playing with Still Life........

1st Attempt:

Handbook sketchbook


The Steps I Took:

1)  First thing was coming up with a main subject.  I love teddy bears so that was my first choice.  Beginning this sketch in my Handbook, I used the basic shapes concept with circles, ovals, and rectangles lightly with the side of my pencil.  After I laid down the main shapes, I defined the edges as shown.  You may or may not see the light shapes underneath the finished lines.

2)  Next I needed to decide on what to place with him.  First thought was maybe a gift box but chose a gift bag instead (as I thought about what I used over Christmas since I don't care to wrap any more).

3)  At this point I felt this needed at least one more item so as I looked around trying to decide, my eyes settled on a candle I had sitting on a shelf.

4)  OK..........now that I have a simple still life set-up I like, I try to decide on how I want to go about painting this.  What colors to use.  What background (if any) or if I just want this as a vignette or illustration.

To play with possibilities, I print this out and try a few color experiments.  First I try a value sketch with a dark bag and the teddy bear lighter since that will be my main focal point.  The painted examples didn't quite follow the value scale but instead turned out opposite using a light value color.  The third is what I decide to go with.

5)  Ending Results: Chose to use Raw Sienna, Bt Sienna, Sap Green, Quin Rose, Aureolin, and Cerulean Blue

This didn't quite work out as I hoped for for a few reasons.

a)  The paper didn't want to cooperate using wet in wet.  The pigment didn't run and merge and ending results show streaks (particularly in the bag).

b)  In error I used water soluble graphite for the pencil sketch (not thinking) which bled when applying the watercolor.

c)  As I study this on screen, I see yet another area of disappointment - the bear's right arm didn't turn out very well as it's too stiff - too straight.

On a positive note - I do like the blossom in the head.  That gave a little texture to suggest a bit of fur.  And biggest positive working this exercise - I learned a few things :-)