Red-bellied lemur illustration

By the end of yesterday afternoon I had got the background done. Keeping it simple, I've painted a flat pale blue for the sky and a flat two tone effect suggesting a forest habitat. I took care mixing the colours for the background and had several attempts at getting the blue the right tone and two greens that would to 'sit' together well and be of a tone to suggest some depth.

This morning I painted the branch of the tree it is sat in. Starting with a dark brown I blocked in its shape, then before proceeding with the branch I put in the lemur's tail. This I did by starting with a black that I made from Lamp Black, Ultramarine and Alizarin crimson. Then I built up the furry effect by using a splayed brush and painting several layers of an 'earthy' blue with a blue-brown. 

Once the tail was in I painted in the branch using dry brush strokes again I added several layers of pale blue-browns and greens mixed using the background greens as a base.

Then onto the feet and hands.... blocking them in with a dark brown then marking in the shadows with black over painted with a dark blue-brown. Adding the mid tones of a reddish brown and working up to the highlights of pale chestnut. At the stage of the photo above the feet and hands are still in progress.

During the afternoon I started work on the body after finishing the feet and hands. Painting the body all over in black first I then laid in the fur directions with a purple-brown. This colour also acts as my base colour in the shadows. I then gradually built up layers of chestnut browns, blue-browns and peachy colours working up from the dark tones to the light to create the thick coat of fur. I started with the black as this helps create depth in the coat where tiny 'pockets' of this colour is left after building up the layers. 

After scanning this in I started on the head positioning the eyes and nose in base colours of black, grey-blue white and burnt sienna. I'm not sure how much I will get done tomorrow on this piece as I shall be working with Maintenance to sort out the Christmas Animal Shaped Lights from 9am. It'll be nice if I can finish it by tomorrow home time.

During the afternoon I emptied the kitchen compost caddy as it was more than full... on the brink of over flowing. I took it down to the yard by the side of the Education building to empty it into the compost bin... and this is what I found in there on the side of the bin. It's a beautiful leopard slug Limax maximus...

This species of slug should be encouraged by gardeners as it  doesn't damage healthy living plants  - they eat rotting vegetation and even other slugs.... so quite a gardeners friend. I was quite excited to find this beastie... haven't seen one (not that I've been looking) for some years although they are apparently fairly commonly seen around the zoo.