Just Paint It Blog

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About
    • My Stuff
      • My House
      • My Hubs
      • My Paintings
        • Illustrations
        • Murals
  • Projects
    • How To/PIY
      • PIY – Paint It Yourself
      • Quick Stuff
      • Tutorials
      • Videos
    • Techniques
      • Antiquing & Distressing
      • Blending Colors
      • Color Wash
      • Decoupage
      • Drawing
      • Dry Brushing
      • Faux Finishes
      • Glazing
      • Highlighting
      • Shading
      • Stenciling
      • Transfers
    • Home Decor
      • Accessories
      • Furniture
      • Holiday Decorating
      • Seasonal Decorating
    • Crafts
      • Dollar Store Crafts
      • Holiday Crafts
        • Christmas Crafts
        • Halloween Crafts
      • Kids Crafts
      • Seasonal Crafts
    • Paint Types
      • Chalk Paint
      • Chalkboard Paint
      • Glitter Paint
      • Metallic Paint
      • Pearl Paint
      • Specialty Paints
      • Spray Paint
      • Watercolor Paint
    • Paint Surfaces
      • Paint Canvas
      • Paint Fabric
      • Paint Glass
      • Paint Metal
      • Paint Paper
      • Paint Plastic
      • Paint Walls
      • Paint Wood
    • Submit Yours
  • Shop
    • A.R.T. – Art Related Things
    • Original Art
    • Pet Portraits
    • ClipArt & Printables
  • Portfolio
    • Pet Portraits
  • Contact

An Uncommon Zebra

April 1, 2013 By Colleen Jorgenson Leave a Comment

Uncommon-Zebra-Painting

Some of you know how I got started painting, some of you don’t. In a nutshell, I sketched & painted as a kid, took one Art class in college and then quit painting for 20 years.

My teacher didn’t like how my paintings looked real. It’s possible that I might’ve been a touch over-sensitive. Just. Possible.

When I started painting again it was on walls in my house, which my friends saw and then asked me to paint something on their walls. Before I knew it, I was a muralist. Without a clue. I didn’t know anything about the business, much less about painting. But through the years I learned. Then our economy took a nosedive, about the same time I sustained a debilitating back injury.

Fast forward a few years and here I am, blogging and painting canvases. Blank canvases. Plain white canvases. At first that felt really freeing – I could paint whatever I wanted! But I’d relied on my clients for so long, their tastes, matching their interiors, that to create something of my own was the opposite of freeing!

I’ve been working on stretching myself creatively – trying things outside of my comfort zone.

That’s how this multi-colored zebra was ‘born’. He’s a cross between my normal “realism” and something “uncommon”. At least, for me.

The irony is, as soon as I started trying different styles & mediums, I also started getting new clients. (Maybe the long drought is over!) I did remember to take some in-progress pics, though.

Zebra-Painting-A

My first thought was to do a very soft toned effect, almost watercolors. I knew I wanted the different colors but I wanted them muted so they’d work in a child’s room.

You can see a touch of lavender next to the turquoise. That got painted out later. As did the wash of brown in the muzzle.

I decided it was too hard to work on this guy without his eyes being painted. (Not sure when he became a male either. I think it was after I painted his eye.)

Zebra-Painting-C

Much better now. He has an eye and a nose and mouth. And some personality.

Zebra-Painting-D

But the soft colors were just too soft. I could’ve lightened the eye or made it turquoise or green maybe, but that was too much of a stretch for me right now.

Zebra-Painting-E

I just darkened his stripes. Or, made them more vivid actually. The colors are the same I had used from the start, just full strength.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to achieve an ombre effect in each stripe. I finally ditched that because you couldn’t really see it from 3-4 feet away.

Plus, I needed to add some more grey touches besides the eye and muzzle. So I used a grey wash for shading as well as in his mane.

Zebra-Painting-F

I also softened his muzzle with turquoise, which looks more like a light grey from a distance.

Zebra-Painting-G

I also used more turquoise in his ears. And you can see the strands of grey in his mane here.

Zebra-Painting-I

Most of the eye I left the same, just adding some turquoise surrounding it.

Maybe next time I’ll try a different colored eye, just for fun.

Zebra-Painting-K

This guy is actually a baby zebra. Could you tell before I told you? Well, anyway, they have some ‘baby fuzz’ on their foreheads. I started with grey to underpaint the shading and direction of the ‘fuzz’.

Zebra-Ears

Then I came back with white and the stripe colors on the forehead and his mane, as well as some white fur on his ears.

Zebra-Painting-L

This photo has better lighting. It was a bit overcast today so I took him outside to get some nice shots.

What do you think? Part of me thinks he should be a unicorn, with all of these colors. Some people on Facebook & Instagram mentioned painted burros in Tijuana and another animal somewhere else. I’ll have to look thru my comments.

He didn’t turn out at all like I originally thought. But that’s fairly normal for me, unless I’m painting for a client. For custom paintings I usually give clients a quick rendering so they know what to expect, then I email in-progress photos so if I veer off course, they can tell me. But this guy is just for my shop. I think he’d be awfully cute in a little girl’s bedroom or playroom.

Colleen

about Colleen

Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket

Subscribe to Mural Maker & More by Email

Filed Under: my paintings, My Stuff

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    About Me

    Hi there! I'm Colleen, a self-taught artist, writer and blogger, among other things. You don't get to be old enough to order off the Denny's senior menu without accomplishing a few things in life. Read More…

    Recent Posts…
    • Patriotic Fourth of July Printables June 25, 2019
    • Camping Coloring Pages June 15, 2019
    • How to Paint Purple Iris January 28, 2019
    • How to Paint a Teddy Bear January 24, 2019
    • How to Paint Tulips January 21, 2019
    Comments…
    • Colleen on Frosted Branches – The Right Way This Time
    • Colleen on Frosted Branches – The Right Way This Time
    • Martha C on Frosted Branches – The Right Way This Time
    • Donna on Frosted Branches – The Right Way This Time
    • Colleen on Painted Oven Mitt & Pot Holders

    Subscribe via Email

    Get updated delivered directly to your inbox!

    Art Digital Downloads

    Archives

    Pretty Handy Girl Fun DIY Gifts!

    PHG_zazzle-banner

    Videos

    Error type: "Forbidden". Error message: "Method doesn't allow unregistered callers (callers without established identity). Please use API Key or other form of API consumer identity to call this API." Domain: "global". Reason: "forbidden".

    Did you added your own Google API key? Look at the help.

    Check in YouTube if the id muralmaker1 belongs to a . Check the FAQ of the plugin or send error messages to support.

    Instagram

    Google+

    Facebook

    Pinterest

    Etsy

    Copyright © 2023 Just Paint It!/Colleen Jorgensen · website by Houndstooth Media Group