Tribute to the Chief
18" x 24"

(note: Was too big to scan, so a digital photograph was the best I could do. For the record, I want to say the photograph, in terms of colors mainly, does not give the original piece any justice.)


A great and noble wolf chief deserves a portrait at the least. The feather headdress emphasizes his might while the cloak emphasizes his wisdom, and his eyes for trust.

This was done as a final project for my Painting Composition I class, and I had tons of fun with it. I loved playing with the earth tones, and it was a good practice for realism.

My goal for this painting was to have an overall warm feel, with the wolf, of course, being the main focus.

My favorite thing about the painting would be how the face turned out. A problem arose though, as I was working on the background, and so I began to seek out some advice from a variety of people. Allison Reed suggested using a warm grey in the background. Though, I was really set on using some warm reds and browns. I also noticed, with the help of others, that the white feathers were big and distracting a bit of attention from the wolf face. So I took Allison's advice and mixed it with my reds/browns, and used the warm grey as an accent behind the wolf's face in order to draw more attention and focus on the wolf's face.

So I turned it in, got a quick overall critique for the class, and ran off to take Kashra to the airport.

Recieved Grade: A