Siberian Hunter

The finished Painting

I recently posted this Siberian tiger and coyote painting on my facebook page and have gotten a few emails about painting snow. I must admit at first, painting snow in acrylic's was a little intimidating, so I did these studies to decide on a composition and practice rendering a little. When I realized that snow was everything BUT white, I got a little more comfortable. 

First, I decided on the second study to go ahead with. Second, I made 3 container's of a light, middle and dark value of the overall snow colors. That helped keep the right consistency throughout the painting. Then I was able to slightly vary the values of those 3 main colors to help make smooth transitions. I did a lot of dry brushing and quick wet into wet blending to get the right effect. Lastly, with a slight turn of the tigers head, I painted him in.  Although the coyote painting had much stronger light, I used the same steps to create it. 
I hope this was helpful to some of you out there. Come on Spring!!!

Siberian Hunter Study

Siberian Hunter Study2