Friday, September 2, 2016

The Bourbon Series - Blanton's





A few of my favorite things.... sunshine streaming though the window, hydrangeas showing off their finest hints of fall color and the color of Bourbon.  Yes, I am not opposed to the taste either!  This one is special, not only for it's smooth flavor, but for the exquisite glass bottle and the horse and jockey posed on the stopper.  It gets even better.  Each of the figures has a stamped letter at the base- one for each letter of the Bourbon's name BLANTON'S.  The horse and jockey are in different positions as they race out of the gate on the B and by the time you get to the S, the jockey is pumping his fist in the air as the finish the race.  Very collectable.  This is the S figure and the only one Benny has... so far!

An artist that I follow often paints Bourbon bottles.  Claudia Hammer's work is wonderful and I even sent her an email about Blanton's.  She of course knew about it and posted her painting of it the day after my email.  You never know where inspiration will come from.  You can see her work at http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com. "Straight Up Blanton's" is her painting. I don't know if there is something between artists and bourbon, but that is a discussion for another day. 

After taking photographs, I used the ValueViewer app to lay out the grid lines to help with my composition.



Using ValueViewer, you can look at color, grayed tones, or Notan - which translates your photograph to simply black or white.  It helps with composition and values.





Next, I drew out my composition and used mostly Prussian Blue to create a value study.

I was quite please with the outcome.  There are still some refinements I want to make, but I think this one works quite nicely with an old frame that I had.


Blanton's   Oil     8x8   $125

Message me or see http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/elaine-ford-5747/artwork
for purchase information.

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