AMI 2020 Online Salon

My submission to the Association of Medical Illustrators 2020 Online Salon: Fine Art Gallery. 

https://meetings.ami.org/2020/project/riatta/

Three Dogs

Three Dogs. Watercolor, acrylic on 140 lb hot press watercolor paper.
6 x 4.5 inches. ©2020, K. Ackoff.

This piece was inspired by images from medieval bestiaries (a compendium of beasts, popular in the Middle Ages). Of course, I put my own twist on it. 

The yellowish center rectangle frame are painted with acrylic gold paint, underpainted with yellow ochre. The rest of the illustration is in watercolor, using what I refer to as "moist brush" technique – a cross between traditional watercolor and dry brush. The image below shows the illustration in progress, with a raking light that shows the gold more clearly.

Three Dogs, in progress. ©2020, K. Ackoff.

The background was worked in many layers of blue... mixing cerulean, ultramarine and genuine lapis lazuli. While medieval illustrations often use patterned backgrounds, I wanted to use a different approach. So, I included two constellations – Canis Major (dog, left) and Lepus (rabbit, right). I included Lepus because I needed something visually and because dogs like to chase rabbits.