Vertical, acrylic on canvasI've always loved Zebras. They are the ultimate contrast of black and white. The strong linear design of their coats forming a strange calligraphic quality as they stand side by side under the stars.
Painting Zebras is fun ... comparable toa jig-saw puzzle. The coarse main stands straight up and bushy. It curves cylinder like around the short, thick neck. From the rump and tail, the stripes curve upward and over the broad back curving down in a graceful arc toward the belly. A Zebra face finds small delciate and intricate patterns over the forehead and down the sides of the jaw to a black muzzzle. No two are alike!!
When I paint Zebras, I always paint their contours and the shadows cast by their form first. Warm shadows form on their bellies from the dense fall undergrowth and the highlights are muted in the soft moonlight. The atomsphere is cool -- the contrast of the Indanthrone sky, melded with pinpricks of stars against the warmth of the Raw Sienna and Umber foreground.
The shadows are very dark but it is a warm dark between the complicated under branches. The horizontal passages of naples yellow and Indian Red mirror the striking movement in the Zebras' stripe patterns.
Like a mouse finding its way to treasure in a maze, begin at the bottom and wind your way through the patterns of light to the Zebras. The moonlight is thick and warm in the center section beckoning the viewer to the Zebras which obscure velvet, dark, night shadow patterns. It is a tapistry of texture and contrasts.
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