Emily-Rose Alcock Art

At the moment I’m working on a collection of animals either emerging from shadows or being illuminated by light.

Today’s oil painting is of a Gorilla bathing in moonlight.

To create this I used a wet on wet technique and began by blocking out the darkest shadows to create an approximate form.

I then began to add mid-tones finally working through to light. I kept shadows warm, whilst my highlights cool.

At this point I decided which would be my sharpest edges. The edge of the face would be the main one, whilst other aspects of the painting would remain out of focus. This brings the emphasis to the area of the face the moon light lands upon.

I gave reference to shoulders and the back of the head, and an impressionistic example of fur using soft brush strokes in varying directions. I finished the painting with bright highlights. To make the white areas pop I also added a touch of light pink at the brightest points.