Fur Study

A few weeks ago I got a Jennifer Gennari course on Drawing America. 

She is a fantastic painter, specializing in animal portraits.

For a while I have been interested in seeing her workflow.

And since I went through the course, I have been wanting to try her workflow.

Interestingly it's very similar to how I have been working lately- oil only, no solvent.

She works in a VERY similar way to Patrick Okrasinski!

Here is Isis sleeping in the bathroom with her head upside-down, a big lump of fur.

This painting only took an hour and a half... I was surprised; I thought it would take longer.

The painting in the course was also done alla prima and took about the same amount of time.

9x12 oil

Her palette is also interesting and I approximated a few colors, which I definitely think are Good Enough.

Ivory Black

Venetian Red**

Fake Vermillion**

Alizarin

Cobalt Blue

Emerald Green**

Yellow Ochre

Cadmium yellow Light **

and Cremnitz White (lead)

Now, I'm all for fancy high-end oil paint but Ms Gennari beats me (and most people) with that.

If her system was my system and I was famous like she is, OR I was her student and only worked exactly how she works I would also use her exact palette.

Venetian Red **
She uses English Red which is the same thing.

I do have an actual "English Red" around somewhere but my Vasari Venetian Red is already out and it's the same pigment anyhow. They are interchangeable.

Fake Vermillion**

Oh my gosh she uses real Vermillion.... Michael Harding...

If you can find it, a great price is about $85 on Blick... Jerrys has it for $95 and the store at the League has it for $110 AND THEY ARE OUT OF STOCK. I think Rublev also makes genuine Vermillion.

Real Vermillion is also extremely poisonous and me myself personally...well, I don't think it is necessary.  I don't see the advantage. I'm gonna stick to my fake Lukas 1862 vermillion or Cadmium Red Light.

Emerald Green**

She uses a Michael Harding which is just a 3-pigment phthalo-based mix.

I have an old Utrecht tube that is exactly the same thing, same 3 pigments.

Cadmium Yellow Light **

Oh my gosh she uses ONLY Vasari Naples Yellow which is different (and better) than all other Naples Yellows in the whole entire world. It's about $71/tube and will last forever.

I kinda want one, to be honest.

...I could see myself getting it one of these days............

****

I did pull out my Michael Harding Cremnitz. (pure lead)

It's been a couple of years since I used lead and it takes some getting used to from Titanium White.

I feel like I used way more white than Jennifer did in her video.

I had to refill my palette 3-4 times; she never had to.

Now I have to watch that course again and see what else I can get from it.