Now a Coyote

Now a Coyote___6x8 study on linen panel...for my coyote son!...but I will paint others!!

I have mentioned a few times that my son is being recruited to play college football. (see highlight film, and turn up the volume!) Well, he has finally made a decision to accept a great offer from Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, KS. It is a great fit for him and closer to home than some of the schools in Texas that looked at him!... Jokingly, I told my son that I liked this school immediately after looking at their web site. They have a cool logo and mascot: Coyote

Now, get this...on the day he decided for sure I was returning home from an appointment, and there in the middle of the road in our quiet suburban neighborhood was a beautifully grooomed, well-fed, healthy mature coyote...a REAL ONE! I flew to our house (4 doors away), got my camera and went back to find him waiting for me! A few of my pics are below...OF COURSE I thanked God for the little "sign", and was wondering what would have happened had he decided to play for the Tigers??

Also below are two stages of this study in progress...and a few words about my process...

State 2: I filled in some color and value shapes to get started on the relationships of contrasts. This stage is a visual impression of what I think I see, "color-wise". Cools, warms, and what I call "Punctuation Marks". See state 1 below...
There should be a state 3 and state 4 before the finished one above, but I forgot to snap pictures, and worked too fast :)

State 1: My sketch was on a linen panel that had some old paint on it (nose area)...I just ignored this and sketched around it, starting with the HIGHLIGHTS. Keeping the color thin...State 2 is above. photos below...

See Mr. Coyote in the shade by the fence?

He turned to get a better look at me... I have never seen a healthier looking coyote in the wild!

Poser...