X is an Ox

There are not many animals that begin with the letter X, so I chose Ox, because you can really hear the sound.  This is the first wash, burnt sienna over yellow, in a very wet on wet wash.  That means that I wet the paper first, and when it wasn't dripping wet, I applied the yellow, and then the burnt sienna on the paper, and let them mix on their own. 

I usually do eyes first.  However, the eyes on this animal are not straight on, and they have a very pale creamy white around them.  I wanted to get the color right around the eyes, before I attempted them, and the shape of the face.  And I was really glad I did that first ...The left eye was a treat!

And, if you read my previous entry, you may remember that I asked if you really know what an Ox is.  One person attempted an answer in a comment, so some others may know.  If you don't know, an ox is actually a neutered bull.  There are no female oxen.  And all oxen are cattle, but of different varieties or breeds, such as Hereford, Angus, Jersey which is the breed I painted, Guernsey and many others.  So if you see an ox and it doesn't quite look like the last one you saw, probably in pictures, it is because there are so many and you are probably not looking at the same kind.  The neutering causes a longer neck and longer legs, plus added strength in the animal.  Some are simply huge at the shoulder, larger than a good size man at full height, and others no, shorter than a man at full height.

The finished Ox, this one being a Jersey Ox.  Don thinks it looks too much like a female cow, but if you were to see the picture I took it from, it looks like a Jersey Ox. 

I darkened his hide with several more washes of both yellow and burnt sienna, and lightened areas by wetting the paper.  Then I took paper toweling, and quickly blotted the wet areas.  Sometimes I only needed to do this once, and sometimes more than once.  If the paint won't come lose, I use a fabric brush, and scrub at the paint until it is loosened, and then blot.  And I always make sure to rinse the brush very frequently, in order to keep the paper as white as possible.

Not all paint will come out of the paper.  Some paints are called staining paints, usually red being one of those paints, but it depends on the pigments the paints are made from.  And not all manufacturers are the same.  So you should test each color you use.

To darken areas, on the legs especially, I used raw umber, a weak brown, and a touch of burnt umber, a little stronger brown.  Under the ox belly, I used a touch of ultramarine blue and burnt umber, and a touch of yellow...This made a green, which doesn't show as green, but is accurate because the grass would reflect upwards on the ox belly.  The ox nose is raw umber with a touch of violet.  I really liked that combination.  And now on to Y, already on the paper.