The painting started with the tan color, followed by the first of the glazes purposely overlapping the areas not yet painted. I painted it in this fashion to minimize the amount of edge cutting I would need to do.
The next step was to lay in the colors on the bib jeans, followed by a dark blue glaze to bring out the jean textures. Then I painted all the other bits including the buttons, bow tie and the bear's eyes.
A dark brown glaze was next over everything that was painted. Then the lower areas of the letters was painted the same color as well as the bear's nose and eye pupils. Things were progressing fairly rapidly. The lettering areas got two coats of white paint in preparation for the next step. Each time I completed a color I would put the piece under the shop fans to speed up the drying time.
The only thing left was the lettering. I started with the black which was easy to cut with the raised layers I had created as I built the file in EnRoute. The blended lettering was next. The finishing touch was the two little white highlights in the bear's eyes to bring the piece to life.
The parade is still two weeks away but things are almost ready. It sure beats rushing around at the last minute!
-dan
