Some Pig...

It started a few weeks when my college roommate (who now lives on a ranch in Texas) posted a video of two enormous pigs rooting around for food. Her comment was "Truly eating like pigs." I was enchanted...

Having grown up in the "Hog Capital of the World," I am generally curious about pigs. Seeing her pigs, I got excited about painting pigs. I asked her to send me more pig pictures.

I also went on the internet to look for pig pictures and ideas. I wanted to warm up on some practice sketches. Interestingly, the theme for that week's painting with my art group was "Relationships." I began looking for pigs 'relating'.

This one was done quickly in an old sketchbook.

It was time to get out my pastels... I found some old paper that I hadn't used for a long time and decided to try some paintings with it. 

Remember, think pigs and relationships... I found these first two on the internet...

Then, I found two more posing with smiles.

They were also pink, but I thought I would try to paint them more like the colors of some of Jean's pigs. At this point I am really having fun and am more and more fascinated by their ears.

I'm not too crazy about the paper I was using and decided to get out my pastel sanded paper. I love the way it holds the pastel.  Here are Jean's two pigs...'eating like pigs.'

There was one photo that she sent that I really loved. It was as if the pig were actually looking at me. First mistake, I got our a dark sheet of sanded paper. I thought that the color of this pig would glow in a dark background. Well, it does, but the whole thing looks more like a portrait than a painting. Not what I was hoping for.

It was a fun beginning, but who knew that pig legs/feet would be so hard to draw. (This was partly due to the photo which did not clearly show the lower part of the pig. It was behind a metal railing.) I began making it up... disregard the purple toes!  A work in progress...

He needed some sort of background...it looked a little muddy in the photo. I dirtied up his legs a little.

Then I really began experimenting. I would put him behind a fence - thinking I could hide his legs.  Maybe add grass to hide his feet....

If I were doing a watercolor painting, I would now get out a piece of acetate - clear paper - and paint various scenarios. Since this is a pastel, I got out plain pastel paper and drew fences, grasses etc. I spent a few days painting and cutting out different ideas that I laid over the original painting. Here are a few of the ideas.

Different fences and adding grass:

 

Trying his nose over the railing and changing this legs...maybe more railing in the back

 

All helpful to see.

I finally ended up with this. He was a little sideways, so I didn't want to change his legs too much, but I like his nose over the fence. I love his color. I brightened up the background a little. I thought the painting was just too dark. (a factor of choosing the dark background to begin) One of the things that I love about pastels is the amount of color that can be added in so many different way.

After all that, I present "Pig." I think his name is "Sebastian" or maybe this is "Piglet," his mother!

I'm still working on another pig painting... more for another day.