More figures!
The sword swallower and helper.  More figures to come!

Good Day!  Several figures have come together.  A possible Lion tamer: 

a juggler who steps into a thimble,

 

and a balloon repair man

These figures are somewhat finished but by no means complete.

 They are too human and need some serious froggyness!!!

 

 

 

 The figures are a little more finished.

A new group I'm working on "the lion tamer and the Lion."  The concept:The lion (a rat with a lion mask) has escaped the exhibit.  So the show has been delayed several times and cancelled with "Out looking for Lion" posted.  The tamer will be using a fishing rod and cheese to catch the rat who will be placed precariously - somewhere???? Maybe on top of the balloon.  But I have 3 ideas or so that deal with the Balloon.

The Balloon ride...  The characters are very rough, the real work was designing the balloon and gondola. More tomorrow.

Here are some new characters.  The fortune teller and her customer.  This is very different than the image I started with if you look back at the original sketches. There is more story... which is what I really like to put into my work.  I will be adding a sign and possibly other structures.  Notice that the fortune teller has lost her mask. This will play a bigger roll later.  I may have to juggle a bit to get the two figures to fit the composition. The final characters will flow more smoothly.

    I know this doesn't look like much but I've been doing a lot of thinking and research.  I replaced the small weight lifter and barbells with a Hercules / Rhino beetle.  I think it will work better and be a lot cleaner than the previous suggestion.  I also worked with some scale issues on the other two characters. I think this is closer to where we should go.  I'd like to toss in some props/background items to see how much is needed.  I love "stuff" but I want the elements to look integrated.  Things like flags, tents, lamps, insects, other animals, and frogs who are visiting the carnival (should they wear masks too????).
   Another idea I have is for the characters to become more revealed as frogs as you move upward in the image.  Since the ringmaster is the Boss, it would make sense that things are "ship shape" close to him, but as you move away rules are sometimes a little more lax and conflicts can arise that make things more interesting.

Here we are as of yesterday.  

 

Not too impressive but it's a start.   These images make the image seem much smaller than it is.

      Today was very productive!  I laid in some raw umber and created some of the shadows in the bark texture.  Then used several tints of a yellow oxide / red oxide mixture to create some middle values.  This took quite some time because the image is so large.
     Finally I made some lily pads, water, and rocks at the base of the image.  The problem is establishing a perspective for the ovals that will work with the overall image.  Because it is so tall and thin the viewer will rarely look at it as a whole (seen from the images vertical center) but rather scan from one end to the other.  This gives some possible play with the perspective but can mess with your senses as I develop the composition.

Monday July 9
Well what have we accomplished so far...
    I resolved the landscape vs portrait issue...  It will definitely  be portrait.  The figures in a landscape view would be about 1/3 to 1/2 the size of that those in a portrait view.  Since it is going on a ceiling size is an issue.
    I have come up with several support solutions so the characters will have something to sit on leaves, mushrooms, and knot holes.
    I have stained the gessoed board with burnt umber, red oxide, and yellow oxide to start on the tree "background."  Some of these colors will come through the final image as tree bark.

The left is a rough of the overall painting.  The right are some figures as developing sketches. Remember they are (or will be) frogs with masks.

Hello

Hello out there!
I have never made a blog before but hopefully it will be a rewarding experience.  The purpose of this blog is to help keep me focused on a painting that I am currently commissioned to make.  Thus the title "The Awesome Frog Painting" - one way or another there will be an Awesome Frog Painting.  I am a teacher, martial artist, and many other things besides a painter. -- It's summer and I tend to want to be out and about rather than sitting around the studio.  So if I say that I will try to post often (at least every other day), this may help force me to get things done.
The commission is very open ended with only two things required,  size 18"x 72" and frogs with human faces.  I've done a lot of painting most of which have a children's book style.  (look at my website hrlevyillustration.com)  So this is right up my alley.  I love to paint animals and plants, integrating concepts of scale, texture, and color. The image will be mounted on a ceiling so the image could be horizontal or vertical.  I started with a vertical concept - starting at the base of tree and moving upward but after several sketches I'm having difficulty giving a "floor" to my characters so I'm going to try a horizontal composition - the edge of creek, to see what I can do.
The theme that I have chosen is "the Carnival/Circus."  With the frogs wearing human masks performing human tasks.  I have a variety of ideas already and eager to start painting - the masonite board is cut to size, mounted to supports, and primed but... The design phase is the most important early step.