Still more grass

While grasses are not my favorite thing to paint (give me water anyday), I think these are doing what I wanted. The loopy-over ones (very technical term) interspersed with the straight angle-y ones seem to be doing the trick in creating a feeling of depth.

More grasses

I have used a variety of colors in the grasses. They may be hard to see but sap green, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, raw umber, naples yellow, paynes gray, and ultramarine blue are being used in all sorts of combinations.

More on the Pheasant painting

Here I have finished for now with the pheasants and am moving on to the grasses. With the amount of detail in the birds, the grasses need to have detail and structure also. (grasses are not one of my favorite things to paint.) These will be especially tricky. While I want the grasses to "read" well, they must not overpower the birds. A too confusing background will diminish the painting as a whole. A too loose background will end up with a painting that does not feel unified.

Stay tuned.

Happy Groundhog Day!

You may not have time to read this today as you are preparing for your Groundhog celebrations.

However, on this very special day as you are gathering with family and friends, I hope that not only will the day be all you had anticipated, but that it will also be a safe occasion for you. Too often we get carried away with the excitement of an event.

Sometimes I have a hard time concealing my utter glee at a whole day devoted to an animal. Whether or not he sees his shadow, it is hard not to think of the joy felt by everyone on this occasion.

Maybe we should have more days like this. How about August 9th devoted to the Roadrunner (beep, beep) or October 27th in honor of Pepe' Le Pew (that romantic skunk.) I might even support a day devoted to Miss Piggy (the day after Thanksgiving?)

Have a Happy, Safe, and Fulfilling GroundHog Day!

Pheasant feathers

And I thought Hungarian partridge had a lot of feathers. Pheasants win. Not only are the patterns varied, but also the colors. One striking feature is the teal/blue on the ring-neck's head. Those iridescent colors are simply beautiful and fun to paint.

This is one of the paintings in which I didn't want to economize on detail.

Generally I start a painting with the background, move onto the eyes of my animal, the rest of their bodies, and finish with the foreground and all over touches. Since I started this painting at a show, I was forced to change my strategy. Knowing that painting the grasses first would leave me with no dry spot to rest my hand for painting the pheasants, I began with the birds.

It was a wise choice. Although I had a lot of stopping and starting in talking with customers and making sales (and forgetting what color I currently had on my brush), the constant breaks made painting the feathers more exciting and less tedious. I am not sure alone in my studio I would have had the same result. And, I think people enjoyed watching the progress more than if I had been working on some dull grasses.

Stay tuned for the next stage. (now back in my studio.)

Less is More

Mara Crossing

8.75" X 30"

Original Oil

There are times to paint fine detail and times when I find less is more.

Watching this phalanx of wildebeest crossing the Mara River, I didn't really see individual animals. I felt the movement of the entire group. In order to convey that hurried sense of fording the river, I knew that tight detail in each wildebeest would destroy the moment. An elongated painting and loose gesteral renderings seemed appropriate to capture to scene.

Next up, a pheasant painting. With lots of detail. Maybe I should title the next blog, More is More

And now for something completely different

Arctic Plunge

Original Oil

42" X 30"

It has been a while since I have blogged. Right now I have a number of paintings in various stages of drying. This one was finally dry enough to snap a photo.

After all the spots of the large leopard piece, I wanted to stretch and play with some color and impressionistic action. A polar bear lunging (plunging) after his harbor seal dinner hit the spot.

Since I have seen polar bear diving in after beluga whales from rock perches, I am sure this scene has happened. A bear spots a seal at the ice breathing hole, the seal slips beneath the surface, and the bear, not wanting to lose his supper, dives right in.

What made the painting challenging and fun was the underwater perspective. I have been fully submerged (in a bathing suit, no less) in Antarctic waters, and have snorkeled with beluga whales in Hudson Bay. I have not been underwater in Hudson Bay when it is covered in ice.

But then, what is the fun in painting only those things you have seen? The Sistine Chapel would be pretty dull if Michelangelo had only painted the merchants, farmers, and nobles of his day. And without DaVinci's Last Supper fresco, we would have missed out on Dan Brown's best seller.

I figure every time I try something new, I learn. It may be a while before I figure out what it was, but I usually find something.