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Big cats and sea turtles are some of my favorite subjects, so I was delighted to receive a commission request combining them in a single painting.

Since the final piece was to be 5" x 7" matted to 8" x 10", I didn't want to include the entire figure of each animal, choosing instead to focus on their faces. I created several loose composition sketches in pencil and ink, simplifying shapes carefully while still preserving the personality of each animal.

The client had suggested a green, gold/orange and purple color scheme which was a beautiful fit for these subjects. Not only are those colors attractive as the traditional secondary palette, but they could also be echoed across all three subjects. The tiger is predominantly gold/orange, with touches of purple shading. The snow leopard is low-saturation purple with green eyes, while the sea turtle is green with purple and orange accents. I made watercolor swatches to test how well the shades I'd picked related to each other.

Composition sketch and color swatches

Once approved, I made the final sketch on 300lb. watercolor paper. I prefer to preserve the energy and character of the original drawing by painting on it directly. Even my sketches for acrylic works are created on rice paper so the original drawing can be affixed directly to the canvas prior to painting.

The sketch highlights my drawing process - the form geometry with construction and symmetry lines is done first in light blue. The detail drawing is then done in graphite pencil.

Final sketch

In both watercolor and acrylic, I prefer building color through layered washes of pure tones rather than extensive palette mixing. This approach creates rich, luminous color while allowing subtle shifts between layers. On the tiger, for instance, the early washes were of Aussie Red Gold (similar to Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold). Later layers of purple added shadow. The background of light washes of Payne's Grey and Indigo tied the subjects together into the final painting.

Commissioned paintings are always a special experience. Instead of developing a piece and receiving feedback once it's complete, I receive input from the client at the beginning and at several review stages, creating a fun collaboration. This piece was no exception — I thoroughly enjoyed the process from the initial concept through the creative color scheme to the final product.

Final painting

I love to draw! Much of my professional work has centered around drawing in one form or another, from animation studies to medical illustration. I didn’t begin focusing on painting until around 2006, and while I enjoy its scope and complexity, I’ve never lost my attachment to line.

My more realistic acrylic paintings begin with a carefully observed drawing, developed from life, museum specimens, photos, or a combination of all three. Personally, I find that transferring or tracing a drawing can diminish some of its character, so I draw on rice paper and attach the original directly to the canvas.

Warthog drawing on kinwashi rice paper

Early on, I struggled with the idea that the immediacy of that drawing might be lost under layers of paint. I experimented with very transparent pigments but eventually began incorporating soluble pencils—and found that they offered some unique advantages within the painting process.

Here are a few ways I use them:

1. Mapping out values
Saturated color is compelling (and a little addictive), which can make it difficult to step back and evaluate a painting’s value structure. After attaching the drawing, I use soluble pencil to establish the background values, helping to direct attention toward the focal areas before committing to full color.

Bighorn Ram drawing in rice paper

2. Building texture
Used wet or dry, soluble pencils are excellent for developing texture. This detail, from a bison painting, began with light acrylic glazes over the original drawing. I then used soluble pencil to reinforce the fur patterns—sometimes blending them smoothly, and sometimes allowing the natural grain of the pigment to remain visible. I enjoy leaving areas like this less resolved, so the underlying structure of the piece remains part of the final image.

Bison fur detail, acrylic and soluble pencil on canvas

3. Adding neutral and semi-neutral tones
I’ll admit that building rich neutrals doesn’t come naturally to me. Simply adding gray or black can flatten a color, and even complements don’t always produce the effect I want. I’ve had success combining blue, brown, or black soluble pencils with rich transparent acrylic glazes—quinacridone nickel azo gold, phthalo turquoise, even dioxazine purple. Layering these combinations can produce complex, chromatic darks; I used this approach extensively in developing the fur of a juvenile bear cub.

Juvenile black bear detail, acrylic and soluble pencil on canvas

A quick note of caution: depending on the brand and how heavily the pencil is applied, pigments may reactivate under a liquid varnish. I recommend using a fixative before varnishing to stabilize the surface. If you’re interested in testing approaches, I’ve shared some experiments in my earlier post, “The ‘Archetypes’ Series: Testing Spectrafix Fixative and Varnish on Mixed Media.”

Even as my work has become more painterly, drawing remains at the core of how I think—and soluble pencils have become one of the most effective ways I’ve found to carry that line forward into the final painting.

 In junior high, I read a book called “The Sorcerer” by Joseph Bato, which led me down a rabbit hole researching the cave paintings of Lascaux and the Cave of the Trois-Frères. I was struck by the simplicity and power of those images—created by artists who relied solely on direct observation of the animals they lived with and depended upon.

During college, I began a series of paintings inspired by these archetypal images, and I’ve revisited the idea several times as my style—and my range of materials—has evolved. While I’ve worked in oils, watercolor, and acrylic, I never found a paint that could produce a truly velvety black. Dry media like charcoal came close, but created problems during varnishing. Too often, the pigment would reactivate and spread or float to the surface. I remember finishing one test piece, applying varnish, and then watching over the next hour as black blobs slowly spread across the image—not fun!

I’d heard about Spectrafix casein spray fixative from several sources and finally decided to put it to the test. I prepared a series of swatch sheets using Derwent Inktense pencils and blocks, Charvin pastel painting sticks, and traditional willow charcoal. Portions of each swatch were blended with water, then allowed to dry before applying a light coat of Spectrafix.

Once the fixative had set, I was able to rub the surface quite firmly without lifting pigment—except in the heaviest charcoal areas, which remained slightly powdery. I then applied a layer of acrylic varnish. The results were impressive: no visible reactivation, and even the finest dry lines held their edges without bleeding.

Various media with layer of Spectrafix and varnish

After these promising results, I moved on to a canvas piece. I began with an acrylic underpainting on paper mounted to canvas, then used the Derwent and Charvin materials for the initial sketch. One thing I discovered was that applying gel medium to both sides of the paper made the surface somewhat slick; in later versions, I applied it only to the underside. 

One of the most striking aspects of these materials is how much pigment is released when activated with water. The charcoal produced beautifully deep blacks, and even the white showed surprising opacity even when applied lightly. 

The final piece incorporates additional layers of acrylic and metallic paint, while still preserving some of the grainy texture of the dry media. Even in those areas, a single coat of Spectrafix successfully stabilized the surface so the varnish could be applied without disturbing the underlying layers.

I’m excited to have added a new combination of materials to my toolkit and am continuing to explore it within my Archetypes series. You can view additional samples here: Stacy Lewis - Portfolio of Works: Archetypes

Hummingbirds are famous for their iridescent feathers, which shift color depending on the angle of light. That shimmering effect is the result of structural coloration, which was the theme of my recent painting demonstration at the Museum of Life & Science’s Biotech event in Durham.

Structural color is responsible for many of nature’s most dramatic iridescent effects. Instead of coming from pigments alone, these colors are created by microscopic structures that bend, scatter, or interfere with light. Hummingbirds, butterflies, beetles, and even some fish use these tiny structures to reflect specific wavelengths of light, creating vivid colors that can shift depending on the viewing angle. Blue Morpho butterfly wings and peacock feathers are famous examples of this effect.

Artists use interference paints to produce similar effects. These are almost transparent on white paper except when the viewing angle reveals the flash of color, because the paper is bouncing the incoming light back to the viewer. The flash of color is still visible, but it’s diluted by all of that reflected light. On black paper, much less light is reflected, so the color flash becomes the dominant thing you see. 

Interference paint swatches on white and black paper

Some interference paints include color pigments as well, but I prefer the versions without pigment. This allows me to create very customized color effects. For example, the throat feathers—or gorget—of the Lucifer Hummingbird appear magenta, but can flash blue or even bronze depending on the light. The study below layered blue and magenta pigments with red and blue interference colors. Green pigments and interference colors were used on the body and head. I took the photos with the light at different angles - the blue lines on the second image highlight the more reflective areas.

Study of Lucifer Hummingbird

I’m already developing the next paintings in this series and am looking forward to discovering more of the remarkable color effects that nature creates through structural color!

Works in progress (left to right): Red-Tailed Comet, Green Violet Ear and Booted Racket Tail