Adelie Penguins

This "surfing" penguin is the primary reason I wanted to paint this scene. It was my first full day on the Antarctic peninsula and we had wonderful sunshine and thousands of Adelie penguins to watch, along with cormorants, skuas, seals, and one gentoo penguin.
The Adelie penguin breeds further south than any other bird and they were first discovered in 1840 by a French Antarctic expedition.
When these penguin are wet, their coats form a smooth insulating layer. On sections of this first penguin I used reflected water colors to create cerulean and ultramarine blue sheens.