Painting is something I haven’t done much of lately, but last week I was able to purchase three 30×40 inch stretched canvases from Michaels on a buy one, get TWO FREE deal! When I bought the canvases, I immediately had this elephant painting in mind.

Painting the Background…

I knew from the beginning that I wanted an effect similar to a marbled counter, but slightly more blended. The first step was to prime my canvas with a layer of gesso. Although the canvas was already primed, I always add another coat just in case. Next I prepped my temporary paper plate palette with lots of white paint, some grey, and a navy blue.

At first, I mostly dipped my large fluffy brush into the white, occasionally dipping my brush into the grey and blue, spreading the paint around to blend, then continuing to brush over the drying areas in a circular motion for that cloudy blue on the negative space.

I continued by building up my layers with blue and grey until I had something I liked (at least in the sections I knew wouldn’t be covered by the elephants I planned to paint). Once that was finished, I grabbed my small brush and added some metallic blue, and metallic gold paint, spreading it in a few sections to add a small shine. Then it was time for elephants!

Painting the Elephants…

I knew I wanted the background to show just a bit through the elephants. To achieve that, I watered down my grey in a plastic cup and painted a single layer, not worrying too much about streaks.

Once that was finished, I grabbed one of my small round brushes and continued to build up the grey in layers until I had the basic features of the elephant and let that dry. With that finished, it was time for the detail work. I prepped my paint, taking three small plastic cups; one with white paint, one with black, and one with a dark grey (all watered down of course). I began by adding my dark grey paint to the shaded areas, focusing on deepening the lines along the trunk. Next I used my black paint to really darken the shadows along the front of the elephant, dabbing my brush along the edges with whatever paint was left on the brush to add some texture. Finally I used white to add some highlights as well as fill in the tusks.