Painting a Frog Prince
The classic tale goes back a couple of centuries. A princess visits a pond and finds friendship in a frog. Over time, her affections grow and her kiss breaks a nasty spell, revealing that the frog is actually a noble prince. And, you know the end, they live happily ever after in the pond. Wait, it wasn’t the pond was it? That could’ve been cool. Ponds are just as majestic as castles. If the kiss had turned her into a frog they may have frolicked in tranquil waters forever. Heck with all the renovations! But anyhoo, I wanted to tell you a little bit about this painting.
The idea started as a spin-off of another piece I was working on, a waterlily scene in a tropical environment that I wished was in my backyard. I wanted to zoom in and see the lily pad closer—wanted to spend some time there. Then the idea grew into a whimsical way to honor someone special, an artsy little curtsy to my fabulous step-grandmother Linda. She was a super talented artist, known for impressionist oil paintings, and also a collector of frogs. Hmmm, maybe better said, she was a reluctant collector of frogs. Because, you know what happens when you tell people you collect something don’t you? Yeah, the frogs start flooding in.
This frog figurine that sits in my art room may have come from her collection, not sure really, but for the moment I’ll pretend it did. She gave me her shadow box and miniature set years ago, so it may have been nestled in there. Nevertheless, it made a perfect model for this project, missing feet and all. He just needed some propping up.
For other reference, I looked through countless pics of lily pads on Pinterest. Whoa. Say that five times fast! “Pics of lily pads on Pinterest. Pics of lily pads on Pinterest. Pics of lily pads on Pinterest…”
But back to the frog, I knew I’d love painting him because my favorite color is green. I can’t get enough of it, especially warm and cool versions together. It’s a real soul soother for me. Some say it isn’t easy being green, but I bet it’s delightful!
For the frog, I mostly used Winsor & Newton’s Veridian Hue and Sap Green, with highlights in Sennelier’s Bright Yellow Green. For the lily pad I used more of the same, mixing in Prussian Blue, Alizarin Crimson, and Ivory Black for shadows. The Crimson doesn’t show up as red, but it adds a richness that can’t come any other way really.
The water is this great Turquoise Blue by Rembrandt, with a little more Prussian in the deep areas and Veridian mixed with white for the surface. And to finish off the details, I grabbed a palette knife and embraced my inner Monet. A knife seems to work better than a brush for water sometimes, pulling horizontally for those streaks of light that hit the eye, and dragging downward to create blur.
His expression kind of cracks me up. And it’s fun to see how it changed over time. You can see the progression below. He started out super smiley, but I wanted him to appear more wise. So I lowered the corners of his mouth and got, well, “Meh.” The third attempt was kind of cool, but looked more dragon-like than frog. It actually took me a few days to find the look I was going for, but I finally found it. In my mind it read like a personal ad: Wise amphibian, been around the pond a while, still quite kissable.
The crown also went through a transformation. What started out short and flat grew taller and gained dimension. I put in some details and added nobby bits on the points, echoing his fingertips. I guess you could say there’s a lot of echo going on here, the waterlilies being crown-like themselves. I think what keeps that from being overkill is the volume created by the shadows and highlights. If this were more abstract and flat, the overall feeling would’ve been awful spikey. Ouch! I’m learning to get darker with my shadows to show more depth. Stepping back and viewing from afar is helping me improve.
When I finished this piece I had to laugh. In my attempt to project a story onto this, and my desire to dedicate it’s charm, I failed to notice a bit of me was there also. That part of me that sometimes feels like royalty stuck in a frog's body, just hoping someone will notice my crown. You know the feeling, don’t you? In fact, I think that may be why I titled it ‘Royalty’. We all must have it inside us somewhere.
And for those of you who collect frogs, either happily or regrettably, I’ll soon have prints available in my Etsy shop. Also, a little tip from me—maybe start telling people you collect gold doubloons. See what happens anyway.