Pink WIP

Not exactly sure how to approach this one, but thought I'd start at the bottom and kind of work my way up through the feathers since they all sort of overlap a bit.  Also trying to give some of the fine line work and sleek lie to the feathers that you see in real life, but still that little bit of texture.  I am finding that is a bit of a challenge.  I am hoping that by the time I complete Pink I will have a technique and then I think I better write it down (alas, senior moments my friends) as there was so much time between my eagle I think I forgot what I did.  I am then going to go forward after this one and try my scratchboard egret before I forget what I did, however that one is lots softer feathers.  I also have a reference of mine that is a black swan and I'd kind of like to try that as well - sort of a feather clinic.  Hopeful I will be smarter at the end of it and not feel intimidated by them.
 Have to admit when I looked at this reference I was so excited with all the beautiful pinks but forgot about the little technical details.  So the aim here is to have a feast for the eyes when close up and yet still have it read feathers from a distance of 6-8 feet.  Definitely will be lots of board time, just looking, for Pink while I try to adjust and see if I can get what I am looking for. 
Think also I will check out wet canvas to see if they have anything in their learning library for feathers.  If you haven't checked that out yet, wetcanvas.com, do so, as there is a forum there for almost every type of artwork.  Usually in the forums there are libraries of threads where people have FREELY given so much information and instruction.  It also has a very supportive and friendly group of folks, it does vary from forum to forum as to who is actively supporting.  You can easily lurk there or boldly post and get very good critiques, both hard and soft, depending on what you are looking for.
Thanks for stopping by and hope you are having a good week.  Absolutely the most beautiful weather here, today in Georgia.

Comments

Jane said…
This is definitely challenging, but I already see a future masterpiece !
October 16, 2014 at 6:03 PM
Nelvia said…
Going rather slow as I am feeling my way with the featherwork. Will get it based in and them add on the hot orange color I want to use. Keeping fingers crossed. Thanks much for positive thoughts Jane.
October 19, 2014 at 6:29 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bold woman's portrait

Image
Bold Ok, for today's portrait I went out of the box and decided to try a different look and approach. This is on watercolor paper, I applied a layer of paper collate over it (you can see that some of it started lifting - so got to use more medium to glue it next time)  Anyway then I tried to leave part of that under collage showing, even in the face.  Went back in and applied several more light lawyers of transparent and opaque paint and then put in the hair using my dagger bus.   Gosh that brush makes hair so much easier While this might not the best example what are your thoughts to taking portraits this more dynamic direction? Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more

Her Highness mixed media woman portrait

Image
Her Highness   I just absolutely loved the expression on this lady and knew I wanted to try to capture her elegance and serenity.  I knew that I didn't want an exact portrait and decided to try another mixed media piece.    I added blobs of paint and used my large scraper to make the areas of color.  Just put paint on a piece of watercolor paper.  Then I inscribed and mixed the colors together with the end of my brush and got all the wavy lines (in real life they actually stand up so there is a 3D effect to the background).  Where I thought I wanted the face I really scraped most of the paint off, and ended up with color blotches and tones, and if you look in the forehead you can sort of see the design that was left.  I thought it would add some variance to the skin tones. I also want to keep her very soft so I tried to stay in the pastel tones, even with the lips.   Once I got shadows and lights added in, and went over it with some skin tone and more blue colors I let
Read more

In The Garden acrylic painting Redo

Image
In The Garden Original painting Well, thankfully I have some folks who tell me what they think.  I value their objective opinions very much and appreciate that they feel strongly enough to tell me when they feel something is off.  In the original painting no one liked the addition of the yellow flower, and felt it pulled the eye and overshadowed the focal point.   Well, I sat on it a bit and starting playing with how I could work it back into the composition.  I wanted the third flower, but I couldn't just really dull down the yellow.  As you an see I ended up making it darker in shadows and then burying it into the foliage.  I like it better because it now looks, to me, like it is part of the picture instead of just being put on in the corner.  Moral of the story, fix it first because it is hard to come in and match colors later. What do you think of the changes - for better or worse? Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more