How to Paint a Cougar Print
- 1). Join the stretcher bars. Fit the corner slots of the four stretcher bars together into a 6-inch square frame. Check that all four corners are 90-degree angles using your square. Adjust the frame as needed. Staple each corner into place with three staples on both sides of each corner.
- 2). Stretch the canvas. Lay the canvas flat, primed-side down. Place the joined stretcher bars in the center of the canvas. Pull one side of the canvas over the stretcher bar frame, and staple it in place with one staple at the center of the bar. Repeat with the other four sides, pulling the canvas tight with the canvas pliers. Go back to the first side, and pull the canvas tight with your pliers, then add two more staples on either side of the center staple. Continue moving around until each side is secured in the same manner. Fold the excess canvas at the corners over one side and staple in place.
- 3). Draw a sketch of a cougar's paw print on the canvas with a sepia pencil. Draw a large, 4-inch wide circle --- the actual size of a cougar's paw pad. Draw three smaller circles -- one next to the other -- at the bottom of the big circle. Add two more circles on either side of the three. Trace the outline of these five circles to create the rear pad of the cougar's paw print. Draw four vertical ovals with spaces between them around the top of the rear pad to represent the four digits of the cougar's forepaw. Erase the six circles you used as a guide for the rear pad.
- 4). Mix yellow ochre paint with burnt umber paint to make light brown. Blend the mixture with acrylic matte medium. Paint the translucent light brown over the entire canvas for a unifying, background tone. Allow to dry.
- 5). Paint the inside of the cougar print with burnt umber paint.
- 6). Mix burnt umber with black to create a shadow tone. Using this color, paint a line down the left side of the four digits and the two bottom creases at the bottom of the rear pad of the cougar print to create shadows.
- 7). Mix the burnt umber with white and yellow ochre paints to create a light tone. Using this lighter tone, paint a line beside each shadow line, and blend it out to the right with the fan brush.
- 8). Dip a dry brush into all three tones. Tap the brush around the cougar print to create the texture of dry dirt.
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