King of the Mountain, Marilyn Manwaring

This painting was inspired by a black and white snapshot I purchased from an elderly lady carrying a shoebox of photographs taken in the Yellowstone/Montana area of the U.S.A. She was hawking her wares amongst the artists’ tents and we would pay her $25 to leave us a picture and go away. However, when I started studying the photo, the rough dense curls of the coat fascinated me and I began to learn the habits and geography of a mountain goat. This painting was started on a white clayboard. I airbrushed in the blue background adding India ink where I would be scratching out the goat, rocks and foliage. I chose a steep valley during sunset and had the light reflecting off the rocks this goat dominated. Knowing that white reflects the colors nearby, I began to scratch out the fur of the goat and then layer in sunset colors. I would then etch back to almost white and lay in a little bit darker color… moving forward with twenty or more different layerings of watercolor to match the dramatic sky behind the main subject.