Can you tell what's different about this?
Hopefully, it looks better than the version I showed you the other day. They are the same painting. But I added reflections of the rocks and trees, and some marsh marigolds along the water's edge.
What about the additions? OK, here's where the rubber meets the road. These two elements have to be added. My (long) past attempt wasn't so great. Mama moose looked like a donkey. I hope to do them better. I am not striving for total realism. Let's call it semi-realistic.
So, I started with just trying to correct the donkey look on some plain old computer paper, painting that, and cutting out the figures to place them on the background.
Why is only half of mama there? Because the finished picture needs to be square. If I cover up part of the background it's closer to what I need. But the background needs to be reconfigured a little bit for better composition.
So I guess it's time to 'fess up as to what I'm doing. Sixteen years ago I got one of my creative jags and wrote a children's book in my head on the 2009 hike in Minnesota's Arrowhead. The title is Moose in Boots. Later that summer, I went manic again, and drew concept pages for the whole thing in a month. Have I done anything since then? A little bit of tweaking of the text. Showed it to a few people. Mostly zilch.
People always ask me if I write books in my head while I hike. This was the one-and-only instance. When these things hit me, I just can't help it. Most of the time I have to just beat out the words like everyone else.
I'd REALLY like to finish this book. But here's the deal. There are 29 paintings I'll need to do. You can see how long it has taken me to even get set up for the first one. I started on what I hope will be the final version of illustration one. Of 29.
Stay tuned to see if I can stay with it. P.S. The dining room table is now converted to my art studio.
I did errands, edited, and read a short non-fiction book that I couldn't put down.
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