Painting Friday! Today’s painting was just finished this week. It’s number two of three based on a moose/sports theme. My brother’s nickname is ‘Moose’ and these paintings will go in his son’s room (I think).

I started working on ideas for this painting a while ago, and at first it was going to something like this…

But my brother plays goal, so I swapped out the big ‘player’ for a goalie:

I still felt there was something missing in the interaction between the two characters, so I opened up the pose of the goalie.

The jerseys are ones that our team was supposed to wear at the “Red’s Easter Tournament” last year, but we couldn’t get them in time…somehow I don’t think we’ll have them for this year’s tournament either.

I wasn’t sure about the design on the goal pads, I wanted them to look at least similar to the ones my brother wears, so I had to wait for pictures from my brother.

Then there was the background. Are they playing indoors or out? I opted for a more natural setting on a frozen lake in the mountains.

So fighting every urge to sit down and paint the picture, I worked up a few samples until I came up with this rough idea.

At first I did want to add a net, thinking it was more like ‘dad’ teaching ‘son’ to skate, rather than playing. But then I changed my mind and added the wooden posts stuck in the ice…I was ready to start painting.

I started from the background and worked forward. (With the exception of the ice surface). Generally starting with the lighter colours and getting darker as I worked.

I debated about adding the outline to the background. Finally deciding on a lighter outline for the objects in the distance.

The paint on the goal pads is a metallic silver, so the photos don’t really do it justice.