A good artist needs to stretch and grow and the animals are part of my stretch and grow lessons. When that occurs I find I have to do some research prior to doing a painting of whatever animal I choose and when I decided I want to paint a tiger, especially a tiger swimming, I knew I needed to do some serious research since I have only seen a live tiger swimming once in my life time and that was in the early 80′s.
At one time, prior to humans taking its place the tiger was the top predator and most serious killer on earth.
I was amazed to find out that they can grow to 13 feet and weigh in at about 900 pounds and I needed to figure out how much of this tiger was going to go onto my piece of watercolor paper as I wanted this to be the best I could possibly do since these cats are almost on the verge of extinction and there is not supposed to be more than 200 of these tigers left in the wild. The wild being Amur-Ussuri region of Siberia and also in northern China and Korea and since there is very lax legislation to control poachers in these areas it is estimated that about 50 of these animals are killed each year which is far more than the number of tigers being born. Plus a poacher can get upwards of $30,000.00 for a tiger and that is far more than the poacher may earn in a full year, especially in Russia!
I had to concentrate on two things in my painting and those two things included making my painting believable as to having my tiger swimming and making his fur believable.
This type of tiger’s coat is very long and very warm. When it is in the snow the white part of the coat helps to camouflage it
At any rate, I started my painting, which is a gouache watercolor on 100% acid free hand made cotton rag watercolor paper and I worked on it 4 straight days until I was satisfied and upon completion I felt I had truly captured my “Swimming Tiger.” What do you think?
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime May your day be filled with
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
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It is really beautiful.. tell me about that Chinese/Oriental red stamp. I paint Watercolor with pen and ink Fraktur style art,, I sometimes call my “cartoons” because it’s a pen and ink drawing filled in with watercolors. I have been working on a German language House Blessing GOTT SEGEN UNSER HAUS… I lost my urge to work on it..and got sidetracked doing a bride and groom craft for my daughter’s wedding. Your creative juices are flowing nicly!
Thanks Lorraine. That red stamp is my “chop”. In China your signature is not legal unless you stamp you “chop” on it. I had a gal in china carve my name (Arlene Wright-Correll) in a soap stone stamp and send it back to me with a small tin of red ink used for this sort of thing.
I know what you mean about getting side tracked. I had a painting block for about 21 days recently. Yikes.
When the wedding is over you will probably be able to finishe the blessin.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime May your day be filled with
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Very, Very good! You do so many things, no boring life for you…TRACK
Thanks track for your kind words.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime May your day be filled with
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Hi Arlene,
I am not a painter and never studied art. I first read your intro, skiped your article and looked at your painting. I found it really beautiful.
After having read you article and looking at your painting again I truly saw it in a different way. I then saw the warmth of the fur, the look of a preditor, the worry of an animal on the verge of extinction. It just feels different looking at a painting after having read the ‘why’ having done it.
Thanks for letting me discover a little bit of your vision and sharing it.
anir
Hi Anir,
Thank you so much for your insight into the painting and the article. It is not often an artist receives a comment such as yours and I am so glad to receive it.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime May your day be filled with
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Just beautiful, Arlene….
Hi Sunblossom for your response. You can see more of my art at this link.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime May your day be filled with
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Arlene, I went to your link…..I am at work, so not a lot of time to look, but I love your work…..you are very talented indeed…..I make jewelry, so I really appreciated your fused glass designs…..and I loved your Key West pictures….I may just have to purchase one of those…..I am a beach girl at heart…..thanks for the link…I’ll go back when I have a little more time…
Thanks for your comments. The Key West Series sold out as fast as I painted them. Howerver, you can see Giclee prints of my Key West Series on paper or canvas starting as low as $13.29 at the Gallery that says Arlene’s Art II this link.
I also have greeting cards, note cards and more of the Key West Series at this link