The area in which I live is surrounded by many farm pastures and fields. Many of these fields are sheep and goat farms. Goats are wondrous creatures who love to jump around and also be held. My wife and I have not yet held a goat, but we often think of our little schnauzers as mini goats as they love grazing the grass multiple times a day. Here I completed a painting of two goats but they are modeled from our little munchkins; Mazie (10 years old - gray) and Nellie (2 years old - dark salt and pepper).
I started out with a photo that I took at a local farm nearby and manipulated it to bring two together in a pose below. I used a 16 x 20 in canvas for this painting.
I stuck with only 5 colors in completing this painting. I manipulated several of these colors using titanium white to get the right color values. I focused on the goats first before completing the background. Initially, I had to erase several parts of the white goat as I noticed I wasn't using the correct brush to get the exact stroke I wanted (it happens). I knew from the beginning I wanted to do an impressionistic point of view given the short time I had to work on this painting.
I worked on the goats and added several layers of value as I focused my light source from the right to left.
With the background, I completed in several different shades/layers of blue and yellow to place the goats in their natural habitat.
The lower section of the foreground I add a couple touches of violet to complement the blues and greens of the grass. The finished product is a dedication to our own miniature female schnauzers (or little goats).
