I had an opportunity recently to do some plein air painting at a wonderful local charity. Spencer's Retreat is an open air space where families, schools and groups and particularly families with children with social anxiety or who can be overwhelmed can go to spend time exclusively in a safe and stimulating place. It has an array of farm animals, play areas, a small allotment and indoor activities if the weather isn't great. By definition it is a peaceful haven in the Warwickshire countryside.
The offer was to spend the day creating and donate something which could be auctioned to raise much needed funds for the Charity.
The weather was beautiful and so I put my equipment down and walked around assessing the opportunities. There are lots of subjects to paint but not really landscape as its quite flat. I couldn't find a way of capturing the setting and so decided to look at a portrait of an animal. Some other artists cleverly set up a still life using some of the gardening equipment which was such a good idea I wish I'd thought of it.
I do like pigs though. Of course moving things are a challenge and so I needed to get some reference photographs which was a challenge as the two pigs were either very curious (snout right up to the lens) or apathetic (lying down next to the far fence). I managed to get a half decent picture of this beauty and then sat down in the nearby shade to paint. So this painting isn't from life but I do think sitting nearby and watching how they move and picking up a little of their personality does help. They did have some mud caked on them and I did scratch their bristles so decided I wanted a splashy, scratchy sort of painting and set about sketching the wonderful Faye on a stretched piece of Not A3 watercolour paper - the resulting painting is about A4 but as you can see there would be a few options for framing.
The background was uninspiring from this angle - fencing, some grass but mainly grey mud so I went for a more abstract dramatic background with the purples, pinks and greens and added some spatters even at this stage to bring Faye forward. I knew the challenge was in getting the perspective on her body while keeping the focus on her eyes and snout. The light was from behind, low at around 11 o'clock. I'd also read some recent stuff about painting spotty animals and to focus on the spot shapes rather than the whole figure which will help to create the curvature of the animal. the light meant the spots were barely visible across her back but strong on her flanks.
I've learned with all animals is that the nose can be very difficult. It can make them look far too cutesy and even cartoony. The mouth, particularly with dogs is a challenge too - if its slightly open beware - they can soon have lipstick and massive teeth. I concentrated on the patches, adding some blue to the grey colour and then the face. I loved the deep shadow on the ears. I am quite happy with the colours I ended up with for the snout - there was some real pink but also lots of flecks and dark parts. I really like the pinkish tones on her upper lip under the snout.
I always knew that for Faye the final highlights and shadows would be the key. I added some bluey and buffy washes to highlight the curves of her body and then moved onto the highlights - my favourite part of the process. Those lashes on her eyes and the bristles! - which just helped to bring some folds forward and also the direction of strokes helping to highlight her shape. I use white gouache but in this case I also mixed some buff tones into the gouache which made them less stark while still being opaque. I finished off by shielding Faye with one hand and adding some gouache spatters to add a little more 'spatteriness' and movement. The whole thing took around 4 hours.
It was a nice experience and Simon and Kate provided great hospitality with tea, cake, a barbecue and pizzas made in their pizza oven. The event was a nice opportunity to meet other artists - painters and photographers, enjoy the peace while painting, and appreciate Spencer's Retreat for what it is.
Spencer's Retreat is worthy of support and some of my corporate followers may be able to help with volunteer time, materials or financial support. They may also have children who would benefit from the environment. If you would like to buy Faye she is for sale along with a selection of works by other artists - please contact Simon at Spencer's Retreat for details enquiries@spencersretreat.com
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