Oil Painting: Bear Skull

Hi Steemians! I finished another oil painting! This is my second attempt at oil painting, but I am pretty happy with what I did and I learned a lot.

For this painting I chose one of the bear skulls that are in the shop (we have a whole shelf). I chose this because, even though there is a lot of challenging detail, its a monochromatic piece so I didn’t have to worry about color schemes or too much paint mixing. Skulls are also very popular subject matter in the tattoo industry, so it was just extra practice. I feel like skull paintings are just classic and timeless as well. I feel like you can never have to many skulls! Also, my friend asked me to help her learn to paint. I am still just learning myself, but I can show her materials and how to clean up, which I feel is half the battle of being a painter!

My friend wanted her skull to be in the desert, because that’s where you find skulls.... no matter that you probably won’t find a bear skull there. But hey, it’s art! And you can do what you want, right?

We both had slightly different views of the skull, of course. I started with a pencil sketch on the canvass, and then added my grey background, wanting to keep it simple. I blocked in the shape of the skull with a little white, mixed in black for different hues, and a little ocher to add depth.

At this point the paint was very wet and I didn’t want my whites of the skull mixing in with the grey and black of the background. I left the painting alone for a little over a week until it was dry enough to work with.

After the paint was dry enough to work over, I refined my skull shape a little and started adding more detail. The shading wasn’t really dark enough, the image looked too flat. So I had to add in way darker values and it made the painting a lot more dramatic.

Finally I got to the point where I was in danger of actually ruining the whole thing. Half of painting is knowing when to stop, I think.

The piece still isn’t signed yet. I will do that in a week when it’s dry. I am really enjoying this medium. Tattooing is very strict, no room for error. Oil painting is so loose, I can do whatever I want, and I only have to please myself. It’s the same reason I enjoy sculpture and ceramics. Doing other forms of artwork keeps me sane!

Thanks for stopping to take a look and I hope you have enjoyed my progress in oil painting. If you would like to see my first attempt at oil painting check it out here. Stay tuned for more!