Finished

 

Hudson Bay Hunter

15" X 22"

Original Oil 

 

Scanned image

 

    In some areas of the world polar bear populations are threatened by the warming climate. With ice forming later than usual their food source is not as accessible. However, along the Hudson Bay coast polar bears do have a fat-filled food source during the summer: beluga whales. Taking advantage of the 14-foot tidal change, bears climb the rock erratics left by the last ice age and wait for the tide to come in. In high tide, belugas enjoy coming close to shore to rub their bellies near the fresh water sources entering the bay. With more than 25,000 belugas in Hudson Bay during the warm season there is a ready supply for polar bears who have learned the jump-and-catch-a-whale technique, or know a “friend” who has.

 

 

 

 

Adding "sparkles" to the water

 

This quick phone photo shows the "white" sparkles I painted in the water over the light warm orange base. Tying it to the lower orange color in the sky, some of the base shows through.

 

For the bear, I like to start with the basic hair direction and shadow sections.

 

 

 

More rocks

 

 The background rocks closest to Hudson Bay were painted lighter, with less contrast, and bluer than the most foreground rocks. 

 

 

 

 

Rocks

 

The rocks rimming Hudson Bay are some of the oldest on our planet. Gneisses and volcanic rocks are accompanied by younger sedimentary rocks. Perhaps even more interesting is that these rocks along the shore endure a 14-foot tidal change twice a day. You might be standing at the edge of the water and once the tide goes out you can not see the bay with the naked eye.

 

Some of the rocks are enormous boulders left over from the last ice age. Here I am painting some of the smaller outlying rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Background

 

I've done a little tweaking with the sky. The large bit of moisture near the bear's nose has been softened and shortened.

 

The first stage of the water has been painted. It may look strange to have orange water but it underlays the "sparkly" layer similar to the technique in my painting Walkin' On Sunshine below.

 

 

 

 

Palette knife

 Some artists wield a palette knife expertly when they apply paint to a canvas or board. I view this tool differently.

 

 For me it is essential for mixing paint. I like one which is an elongated diamond with a sharp pointy end.

 

Secondly, I use my palette knife for mistakes. In this piece I had my whole sky carefully designed and drawn. Lights and darks would be blended just right to give a feeling of the type of stormy skies they have around Hudson Bay, Manitoba. I painted it. It didn't work.

 

I tried fixing it but all I ended up with was a mess. Time for the palette knife. I scraped off the majority of paint. You'd probably like to see what it looked like before I grabbed the palette knife. Well, I didn't take a photo of it - in too big a hurry to "erase" it. This is one great advantage of oil paint. While it is still wet one can remove it and not be distracted by its lack of success.

 

Time to regroup. What type of storms do I remember from my times there? How can I incorporate them into the overall plan? There are some aspects of my design I could use. After putting on some music I starting painting with a less cerebral approach to the sky. Below is the result. It'll be tweaked throughout the painting but for me the sky feels more real and organic.