How do you say "Bunny" in Polish?

I was commissioned by my best friend to make a special Christmas gift for the niece. She really loves her Bunny stuffy and they figured making an original piece of art celebrating it would make a great gift and more than likely last longer than the stuffed toy. I included my process below.

Sketching this a number of times, this piece gave me a surprising challenge, how to capture the essence of a simple stuffed toy. Once I got the sketch right I increased the design to fill the area to be painted.

I traced the design and transferred it with tracing paper and light grey chalk onto a Baltic birch panel.

I locked down the drawing and added a basic value map with a wash of warm Burnt Sienna paint.

I added middle value lights and darks in grey for my dead colour layer.

I then did some big form modelling in lighter and darker greys to create more form and coloured in the nose.

I knocked back the cool grey with a warm yellowish fur applied with thick strokes of paint to give the effect of the feeling of her soft plush toy.

I added details and brought back the outline with Burnt sienna to help pop the image off of the remaining wooden support. finally I signed and dated it on the back and added picture hanging supplies to the back, wrapped it and delivered it.  I heard she loved it and her mom was so appreciative she shed a tear. Win for the arts!!!

"Master Painting" overview

I taught a course I designed titled "Master Painting" at the Alberta College of Art and design again this year.  It is based on my work, as well as on the Art study/ research trip I took to Italy and more.
Here is an overview of the work completed in the course by my fabulous students! We cover the Flemish technique, Venetian technique and French academic and a whole lot more! It is such a dense course with demos, presentations and practical advice. In my course we build and prep our stretchers, ground our supports, do masters copies, and a whole lot more,  I cant divulge too much here but take a look at some of the 32 pics I snapped throughout the semester.

If you are interested in learning stuff like this contact me through my website: http://brianbatista.com

Colour theory final review.

We reached the end of my Colour theory for painters course at ACAD and I did a final class discussion and review to see what they remember and to build these crazy whiteboard notes based on their retention.

 Below are a few pics of some of the final projects etc.

Got crabs?!

I did up these two little studies for the rumble house holiday fundraiser.

 First a quick sketch on top of a toned oil panel.

Then I began with the darks before having to run out for a lunch date.

Upon my return I quickly directly painted the crab.

And then added the background and went back for touch ups.