Striped Zebras

3.5x7 watercolor of four grown zebras standing together discussing the day's events. This is an older work. I painted them on Canson 140 lb cold press paper (photo from WetCanvas Weekend Drawing Event). With the WDE, participants are given 2 hours to choose and paint their subject, then post the results at that time limit even if unfinished. This work has been SOLD. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Zebra Outlook

11x8.5 watercolor and black India ink on paper done today as part of an online animal challenge. A vignette format was chosen with loose splashy edges keeping the zebra in sharp focus. COPYRIGHT 2021 Kay Smith.

Zebra in Grass

AFTER

 5.5 x 7.5 mixed media on foamcore done today from my zebra photo I featured on current WetCanvas weekend drawing event challenge.  Participants have 2 hours to do a painting from 10 images the host furnishes.  The challenge was to rework or redo another one with one of the 10, so I chose yesterday's alcohol ink that I didn't really like.  Using a Staedtler Lumocolor permanent ink pen, the animal's stripes were put in on top of the ink.  Next I cut blades of grass and collaged them onto the foreground with matte medium.  Total time was 1 hour.

BEFORE

Images COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith

Cost:  $115 + s&h     Contact me at 1971ks@att.net to purchase

Zebra Outlook

11x8.5 watercolor and black India ink on paper done today as part of a WetCanvas challenge in the Watermedia forum; ref courtesy Jenna.  I decided to make a vignette with loose splashy edges keeping the zebra in sharp focus.
Image COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith.

Zebra Zone ~ day 19 of 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

5.5x7 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper that is today's daily painting for Leslie Saeta's challenge.  Twice a year her blog hosts any artists wanting to pledge to paint one work per day.  Sometimes I do more than one to stay ahead.  The zebra here is being also featured on WetCanvas animal challenge for January hosted by Virginie.  Dark stripes a mix of ultramarine blue and quinacridone burnt sienna, and background was changed from the green foliage to earthy browns and rusty oranges.
Image COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith.

Zebra Head ~ #InkTober day 4

6x4 India ink and alcohol ink on professional photo paper, done for the 4th day of #InkTober, an artists challenge to do one work per day during October in ink and post online and/or to social media.  No predrawing done here, only darks first then brown alcohol ink.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Baby Zebra

15x11 mixed watermedia on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today. Using an India ink color chosen at random, I drew with the tip of dark purple on dry paper.  I used a small resin figurine to draw from life.  These were the darks and stripes were added.  Next I spritzed with a fine water mister to move the ink a bit.  With a large foil paper doily I put pink acrylic over the holes with a sponge brush, then flipped the doily over and ran a brayer for another application of the wet paint.  When about dry, watercolors were put in with 1" flat brush beginning with Blue Bice Hue (American Journey), arylide yellow, transparent pyrrol orange, quinacridone gold, permanent rose and quin magenta.  Lastly I stamped with the top circle of a plastic container.  It was a fun, experimental piece with no real plan.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Zebras

9x12 watercolor and inks on paper done yesterday as an assignment homework for Sketchbook Skool.  The week's lesson began Friday and is on animals.  We were encouraged to visit a zoo or natural history museum to render animals from life.  If you had no such around you were to use toy figurines, a practice I've been doing for many years.  I had a mama and baby zebra so used those with the poses you see here.  At the end watercolor was splattered and washed at random, then letter stamps used to spell out zebra.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Zebra - Splendor in the Grass

22x15 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper painted from one of my wildlife park photos of a zebra eating his grass.  This work sold at its first show.
Image is COPYRIGHT Kay Smith and is SOLD.

Wild Grass Zebra

6x6 watercolor over ink line drawing with Pigma Micron 01 pen on Masters paper done yesterday on a whim.  Both black and brown stripes make this fellow one with the wild grass surrounding him, making him blend in the environment.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Zebra Elements 1

9x8.5 watercolor using brush only, no pencil, done this weekend so I'd have two zebra details loosely painted to go into a single frame. First I wet top side only of each of these Canson 140 lb papers, then with 1" brush smeared sepia watercolor and let dry for an abstract background.  Then choosing one of my zebra photos from a wildlife preserve I used my Zoomfinder to zero in on parts of the animal to draw with #8 round synthetic brush.  Here you see the animal's right eye and right ear, mane, and part of forehead.  Other colors used were UB, quinacridone burnt orange, yellow ochre, mint julep, and indigo.  Tomorrow I'll show the second one and it won't necessarily be the lower part of the zebra's head to follow along with this.  It may be the opposite side!
Image COPYRIGHT 2013 Kay Smith.

Zebra - negatively painted

6x6 image of a young zebra which was done without any pencil sketch beforehand; his stripes were filled in using only black ink to create the shape.  This style of working is called negative painting.
COPYRIGHT 2013 Kay Smith.

Striped Rears (zebras)

3.5x7 watercolor of four grown zebras standing together discussing the day's events.  Today I painted them on Canson 140 lb cold press paper (photo from WetCanvas Weekend Drawing Event).  With the WDE, participants are given 2 hours to choose and paint their subject, then post the results at that time limit even if unfinished.  This work has now been SOLD.

Funky Fellow zebra

30x22 watercolor SOLD completed a few years ago.  After drawing the zebra, I cut stripes with a razor blade and removed them, then placed an old dog of a watercolor behind.  This provided pattern and gave the animal some pizzazz.