Sleeping cow on grass on sunny day - WIP stages

Sleeping cow on grass on sunny day - WIP stages

Sleeping cow on grass on sunny day - oil painting stages

The above panel shows stages of a painting, the subject of which is a cow dropping asleep in a field.

Basic photographic reference was obtained on one of my trips about in the area of Lyndhurst, situated within the area of the New Forest, UK.

Stretched watercolour paper is used as the support base, which was then given a coat of 'gesso' to seal the paper from any leakage of oil paint, to be placed later on top. Once the gesso was dry an orange acrylic wash was applied on top, after which the drawing of the cow scene was done on top using a brown acrylic paint and fine brush, and white paint to help indicate blocks of light for the tonal values. Following this, diluted oil paint was then used to place down the initial base colours. This 'under-painting' layer provides a good key to the last stage, which is when the oil paint is applied thicker to provide the final details and colours within the artwork.

The finished painting can be seen on this link.