Elephant

I’ve been thinking for a while about painting an elephant Hazel Soan style and finally got around to it today.

The elephant itself was first painted in raw sienna, then quinacridone magenta went on top of that and finally French ultramarine. All wet into wet. Some shadowy bits were added in sepia once that was dry.  The background has Indian yellow, French ultramarine (like in the elephant – I didn’t want more than one blue), raw sienna and burnt umber. I used a little bit of titanium white on the tusks but greyed them out so they weren’t too bright.

Overall I’m happy with this. The Hazel Soan colours in the elephant give it loads of vibrancy and its shape is pretty good. Compositionally, though, it’s a bit dull, just being an elephant in the centre, taking up most of the picture. And I had some trouble with the ear, initially making it the wrong shape and having to go in afterwards to make it bigger. But I think that’s something you only notice if you’re looking for it.

This one didn’t do well in the Q1 2019 survey, so I gave it as a present to the bratty niece who first suggested I paint an elephant.  It’s not as if I could imagine ever selling this one.