Zoo Elephants

9x12 watercolor with walnut ink on Canson 140 lb cold press paper; other colors used were raw umber and Payne's grey. Sketch done with Staedtler 0.3 pigment liner pen in black. This limited palette I think captured the elephant hide hues well and walnut ink provided the dusty clouds. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2026

Young Elephant

Young Elephant 6x4 India ink plus grey Brusho crystals on Joggles sketchbook paper done a few days ago. I used a wooden chopstick to sketch the young elephant in ink and when dry, wet the paper and sprinkled Brusho. COPYRIGHT 2024 Kay Smith

Jumbo Elephant

6x4 ink with grey Brusho wc crystals added to give the elephant some color (posted previously as ink sketch for #inktober2024). This is on Joggles sketchbook paper 80 lb. COPYRIGHT 2024 Kay Smith

Jumbo ~ #inktober2024 day 28

6x4 ink using black India ink applied with a wooden chopstick on sketchbook paper for day 28 for #inktober2024; the prompt was 'jumbo' so I decided that an elephant would be perfect to illustrate. COPYRIGHT 2024 Kay Smith

Drowsy Elephant

6x6 watercolor and ink using STA Lictin pen 0.3 and Gansai Tambi graphite paints by Kuretake. This is on Masters Touch 80 lb paper in sketchbook done a few days ago. COPYRIGHT 2024 Kay Smith

Marching Elephant

7x9 Tombow brush pens using portrait palette set in Masters Touch sketchbook 80 lb paper, done last month while out of town. After the watersoluble ink was in, I used a rigger brush and water to blend the colors somewhat of the marching elephant. COPYRIGHT 2024 Kay Smith

A Trunk Show

15x22 watercolor, Brusho, and black India ink on 140 lb cold press paper recently redone as one of my pieces for the fall Caboose Watercolor Society show "A Brush with Creativity". Opening day is Saturday, Sept. 17 from 1130-1:30 at Heritage museum 510 Scurry in Big Spring. The concept was when planning this exhibit to enhance, redo, or rearrange elements in existing paintings. These imaginary elephants only had pale color plus the ink outlines. I added grey, tan, and black Brusho crystals to focus on the animals' skin. Dates for show: Sept. 17 - Oct. 29, 2022. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Bold Elephant

Mixed media on 8.25×11 Crescent matboard done today in about 1 hour. After a pencil sketch I went over the lines using a wooden chopstick and black India ink. When dry, I wet his hide then sprinkled grey and dark brown Brusho. When that dried, I sprayed Tim Holtz’ Distress ink stain in Old Photo. Background is all gouache and white gel pen for tiny twigs or grasses. I was anxious to try Brusho and the spray ink together to see what texture developed and really do like it. A Uniball 207 rollerball pen added some lines to him and other dark areas. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Concrete Jungle elephants

16x20 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper using a limited palette of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, and quinacridone gold completed today for an online challenge (photo courtesy Pixabay).  This one took two days to get it just right as it is largely a painting of neutrals with dark, medium, and light values.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Elephant Eyes

24x18 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper done with spicing up neutrals usually put into play for these type animals.  Eyes are a mix of black India ink.  One can feel the dust swirling around this massive beast. It was sketched and painted from an earlier drawing.  A WIP for this one can be seen on this blog 3-14-14.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Plight of the Circus Elephant

26.25x22.25 acrylics on gessoed failed painting of a birdcage on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press wc paper done yesterday.  The birdcage's horizontal lines seems to encase the massive animal where he cannot escape.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith

Circus Elephant

8.25x5.25 mixed media collage on old discarded book page that was first gessoed.  This elephant was sketched using Micron 01 pen and was painted using black and white acrylics.  His decorative red hat and cape are collage paper and harlequin pattern is collage.  To the left and back are figure sketches for an audience.  Image courtesy Dewi/WetCanvas current weekend drawing event for the elephant.  This is my first image to put into new grunge journal, which is the old book salvaged and decorated.  Anything goes in this journal that is just for fun.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith                                        Email:   1971ks@att.net to purchase via PayPal                     

#InkTober day 25 ~ Zoo Elephants

9x12 watercolor with walnut ink on Canson 140 lb cold press paper; other colors used were raw umber and Payne's grey.  Sketch done with Staedtler 0.3 pigment liner pen in black.  Today is the 25th day of  #InkTober (October), so only 6 days left.  This limited palette I think captured the elephant hide hues well and walnut ink provided the dusty clouds.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Elephant WIP continued

 More work was done on his left eye using a mix of Coastal Fog, Coffee with Cream, indigo, quin burnt orange on dry paper.

 Same colors here but with manganese blue added along with carbazole violet to do the entire left ear.

Detail horizontal view of upper forehead and beginning of trunk.  I've used Halloween Orange also here to bring a warm color in.  More to follow later.  Time to post today's demo in Snyder, TX.

Elephant - WIP

 

 Today I decided to do wildlife art as I've been showing my Monday students how to draw elephants.  With this macro view, I put tracing paper over the pencil drawing on 24x18 Canson paper and drew felt tip pen lines so you can see this work in progress.  I have no preconceived notion how or what I'll use to accomplish a decent looking ellie.

 

 

 I decided to work on dry paper, so used masking tape for his ivory tusks, then took 4 colored fine spray mist bottles, spritzing with yellow dilute watercolor, then pink, followed by blue.

 

I let drips run along and down edge of his trunk and it followed the pencil line with no problem all the way to the bottom.

 



Sorry for the poor iPhone photos! In this view, I've painted in his dark eyes with black India ink.  Again, I let paint drip downwards on opposite trunk line.  At this point I spritzed the middle with clear water to let all blend.  Stay tuned for more work in progress.  This may be mixed media. I just can't see painting him in all neutrals the way they are in real life.
All images COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Elephant Stroll

7.5x9 gouache and ink mixed media on partially gessoed matboard painted recently of an elephant and her baby strolling along.  With their dull neutral colored hides blending into the landscape I added orange/red splatter flowers in the foreground.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2013 Kay Smith.

Gentle Giant Elephant

20x16 torn paper collage on wrapped canvas started yesterday (see the first phase posted below) then finished up today.  Using various heavy paper magazines, colored pieces were torn by hand and applied with matte medium both sides.  When totally dry I will varnish with gloss medium and sign it.

Most of the elephant was done yesterday in about 1.5 hours, although with this work in progress, I had to go back and correct values today.  You can see the black marker lines on the gessoed canvas where I drew background and foreground grasses.  This work is now SOLD.