The Story Behind the Painting

August 2019 I went to Australia Zoo for my birthday and little did I know at the time that this would become a source for my first few paintings. August the following year I had a stall at the annual Australia Zoo market and now have my own Australia Zoo Animals collection on my website.

I love Australia Zoo as its only a few hrs away and a good source to photograph animals that are a little elusive in the wild.

My sister loves Lemurs and I was sending her photos whenever they were doing something interesting or having a cute pose. So one of these two Lemurs I painted and this became my sisters Christmas present.

My Painting Process

This was about my fourth gouache painting so I didn’t take any progress shots, as I was still finding my style back in December of 2019. This was also a worrying time as I was staying in Blackheath and there were several bushfires around threatening to destroy land and houses.

Little did we know that the world was going to change as we know it in 2020.

This artwork was on a small A5 sketch pad and not on the best quality paper so I had a little difficulty with the background. This was still my early work so I hadn’t found my super fine detail as I have in 2020.

I started painting the face then slowly worked down the animals body then back up with a second layer of fur.

Last of all I painted the background and since this was a very early piece I wish I’d used a wet background with wet paint as it looks a little dull and un interesting.

Gouache Colour Palette

I use Winsor & Newton Gouache on Arches France Watercolour Paper, 300g Cold Pressed.

My painting come from my own experiences that I have lived and photographed while traveling. By reading this blog, you as a viewer can now hear The Story Behind the Painting. Where, when, what was happening while I was photographing the wildlife.
If you want more details about my adventures checkout my travel blog website www.ChrisOsborneAdventures.wordpress.com 

Enjoy, Chris Osborne