Here is the Process I went through to create my Doe and Fawn Painting. This was a relatively quick painting for a wildlife scene and I estimate I spent a total of 13 Hours on it, over 6 weeks.

I started with my photo of the Doe and Fawn, which was taken in August 2014. I thought this was a very stunning composition with the fawn eating grass below its mother. These are “White Tailed Deer which are found all throughout the eastern part of North America, from Quebec down to Floridia, and as far west as the Great Plains.

The lighting in this painting is fairly flat because the sun is low in the sky, and there are no real strong shadows, or highlights but this adds a unique interest of its own making the colours seem more vivid.

I started with a drawing set up with a grid and drew the 2 deer and background. I changed the background a lot, and got rid of the power-lines and bike trail to put in a field with distant trees.

The first step was to get down as much tone as possible and give the general colours that would be used in the painting. I created a sort of texture of grass to lead the eyes from the left side of the painting into the focal point where the 2 deer are.

In the second version, I continued to work on the grass, and the texture of the deer, I added some more colours to add interest in the 2 deer. However I felt I made it a little too detailed, so I would have to cover up some of the details, yet continue to add to the painting.

In the final version I did a transparent layer of greens on top of all the grass, and continued to add more burnt sienna and raw umber to the deer. I also used some phatlo blue in the shadows to create a sort of black colour.  I added highlights of Quinacrodone Magenta, and Yellow. I also added detail to the heads of the deer, and the spots on the fawn.

Overall I am satisfied how I brought different elements together to create a unique piece of art that was quite a bit different from my reference photo. I really like the combinations of the greens I made with the orange and  browns of the deer.