This painting is using two of my favorite models, Charlie Weber and Jay Lewis. They are relaxing around a warm fire after a hearty meal while out trapping in the Yellowstone basin. After preparing my canvas with a couple of coats of gesso, I will usually paint a thin layer of tinted gesso or a thin tint of acrylic to get rid of the white glare. In this case I added a little yellow ochre to my final gesso to give it a warm glow with which to start. I prefer to sketch with a brush using raw umber acrylic as my medium and that way if I make errors which I always do, I can just wipe it out with water or go over it with a little gesso and I have a clean surface again. I had to resketch the reclining figure and that is why the background is darker in that area.
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