CP Treasures, Volume III is available for purchase now and will be shipping November 18. It is a beautiful collection on some of the best colored pencil art in the world. I feel very honored to have my portrait painting of my granddaughters included in this Collection, and to be counted among so many incredibly talented artists.

 If you are a colored pencil artist, interested in colored pencil paintings or just want to have a copy of this book for inspiration and reference go to this link: http://annkullberg.com/collections/books-more . I know the artwork will inspire me!

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 10

            Last week I got a good start on the Osprey in flight. Much of the right wing and the head were completed (or nearly so, since I usually complete 90% of an area and then go on to another, so that I can determine later if more work is necessary, based on the completeness of surrounding areas). I then started work on the body. Since the light is coming from the right side of the painting, I started shading the right side of the bird (the side away from the light. Here I used a combination of french greys, 10% and 30%, as well as FC warm grey I and cloud blue, layering them slowly until I felt I was close to what I wanted. I also used FC white to help blend them and make the transition to the whitest white (the color of the paper).

            The legs then came next. Using the same colors I worked in the shadows and developed the form. The area just above the feet is nearly devoid of feathers, so the rough skin texture becomes more visible. The same is true of the toes. There are a lot of creases and wrinkles. Here I used a very sharp HB lead in a mechanical pencil to work in more detail. The talons were drawn in with FC dark sepia and reinforced with HB lead.

            Since I was working on the feet I decided to do a little work on the fish – just enough to give the feel of it in the bird’s grasp.

            After both legs and feet were complete I went to work on the tail. The tail is in part shade and part bright light. The shaded part on the bird’s right side only caught light here and there but as feathers transitioned to the bird’s left, they caught more light. So more grey was added on the bird’s right and more of the paper showed through on the bird’s left. I left shadows as well as highlights on the feather shafts. Here and there where the light affected the feathers I added raw umber.

            All that’s left now is the bird’s left wing, outstretched, all of the underside visible. The first order of work here was to work out the pattern of darks in the feathers. Once I have that laid out, I’ll go back and finish it, filling in the details. 

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 9

            My apologies for not having posted this on schedule. My wife and I have just returned from a short vacation – visit in Virginia, and it lasted a bit longer than expected (it’s hard to turn back from the mountains). We spent some time visiting our son there and then visited a few historic homes of founders of this republic, as well as areas of natural beauty. It was a trip well spent.

            I was even able to make some progress on the Osprey painting. With the background completed for now ( I may want to further strengthen it after completing the main features), I started on the Osprey in flight. I started on this side because I want to complete the painting from left to right to avoid having to cover parts already completed and possibly smudging them.

            The Osprey colors may, at first sight be relatively simple – black (and grey) and white – but closer observation reveals more subtleties. Shading isn’t just grey but has a bit of blue in it – a reflection of the bluish background. Blue shadows are more realistic and more interesting. The dark feathers aren’t just black but also have other subtle colors depending how the light hits them. So, the colors I am going to use on this bird are:

                        Prismacolor

                                    Blue slate

                                    Cloud blue

                                    Light umber

                                    French grey 90%

                                    Warm grey 30%

                        Faber-Castell

                                    Dark sepia

                                    Burnt umber

                                    Light ochre

                                    Warm grey I

                                    Warm grey II

                                    White

            Seems like a lot, but they are all necessary to attain the effect. The dark feathers were the result of using dark sepia, French grey 90% and burnt umber. Highlighted areas were accomplished with light umber and light ochre.

            All the whitish areas of the feathers were accomplished with combinations of the greys and white. Even some light umber was used in the lighter banding of the feathers. Of course, blue was added to the greys in the shadow areas to bring even the shadows to life. The light is coming from the right side, so areas such as the side of the bird’s head and body are in some shadow. The detail pictures show more of these shadows.

            The eye was completed with very sharp points to get as much clarity as possible. Yellow ochre surrounds the black pupil. And, I’ve left a small light highlight on the pupil where the light strikes it. He is looking intently down toward his charges in the nest.

            I’m going to continue working on this bird and hopefully have much more completed by next week.

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 8

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 8

            Now that all the preliminary preparations are complete, I’m ready to start painting the scene.

            Since the background will be watercolor, and I wanted the freedom to brush across the paper without having to worry about the birds or the nest getting in the way and having to work around them. So, I masked off all but the background with a combination of masking fluid, paper and tape. First, I cut pieces of paper out large enough to fit inside the objects to be masked so I wouldn’t have to paint masking fluid over the whole bird or nest. I then taped them down. I used masking fluid around all the outer edges of the birds and nest, making sure to paint up onto the tape to seal it.

            Finally, I can paint. After all the preliminary work, I’m anxious to get started. I mixed up a good amount of paynes grey to do the background. Next, I wet down the entire area to be painted with water, giving it two coats. Then, I painted wet in wet, building up a number of layers, adding more layers in some spots than others to suggest clouds here and there as I went. When I felt it was dark enough I stopped. I didn’t want to add any more detail to the clouds now. Once the birds and nest are in I can decide if more work is necessary on the background. Since it’s not a good idea to leave the masking fluid in place more than a day or so, I wanted to mask the paper, paint in the background and remove the masking all the same day.

            The photos show the progression from drawing to masking to painted background. Next, I’ll start with colored pencil on the bird in fight.

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 7

            This past week I did manage to make some progress on the Osprey painting.

The next step in the process is to develop the colors to be used. This painting will be mixed media – colored pencil and watercolor. Watercolor will be used for the background and colored pencil for all the rest.

I had two options for the background. I wanted to keep some misty clouds in it but wasn’t sure if I should have clouds mixed with blue sky or all clouds with a subdued gray-blue tone. Sort of a cloudy day. So I tried both approaches. In both cases I kept the colors of the birds and nest the same, changing only the background.

In the first approach I used winsor blue in a manner to give the appearance of blue sky poking through here and there in a foggy, cloudy day.

I changed to Paynes Grey for my second approach. The intent here was to create a cloudy sky with light coming from a clearing sky toward the right.

The effects of the two colors made a big difference in the mood of each. The winsor blue gave a bright cheery effect while the paynes grey produced a more somber mood. The winsor blue background with its mixed blue and white patches interfered with the white of the flying Osprey. The paynes grey in the other sketch actually set off the bird more, making it more prominent. I could have introduced more blue into the winsor blue background to outline the bird more but I didn’t want that much blue.

In the end I decided the paynes grey background was the better of the two. The winsor blue called more attention to the sky while the paynes grey was more neutral and provided a better supporting role. It also added some drama. The focus is more on the bird.

The colors for the birds and nest were arrived at by testing colors and combinations on a separate sheet and keeping the object shapes fairly simple. The nest shows no twigs and branches in the color sketch. I was more concerned with the overall color scheme. As I work the painting I’ll be indicating the colors used.

Now that I’ve worked out the tones, composition and colors, I’ll be transferring the drawing to watercolor paper and then begin the painting. I’m using Arches 300 lb watercolor paper for the support. If all goes well I should have the background sky nearly complete by next week.

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 6

            This past week has been a busy one for me – and involved a lot of painting. Only the painting I was doing was not painting landscapes but painting walls, baseboards and closets. So, I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I had hoped on the Osprey painting.

            My daughter is pregnant with twins – a boy and a girl – and, along with raising two other young and active children, running a household, and working toward a college degree in her “spare time”, she is quite busy getting everything ready for their arrival – in December. Part of that preparation involved re-painting a room which will become the twins’ upon their arrival. Since I have some expertise in painting, I volunteered to help paint the room, and spent most of last week finishing up trim and baseboard, painting along the ceiling, around windows and inside a closet. To make matters worse, the previous color was so dark that it took four coats of fresh paint to fully cover it.

            Needless to say, family matters and responsibilities trump all others. I was happy to help, and do my part to make my daughter’s life a bit easier. She and her mother spent much of the weekend gathering material to make truly unique curtains for the room.

As a result, I wasn’t able to make much progress on the Osprey. I had hoped to have the color sketches finished by today but failed in that regard. I have made a dent in it and will be posting them as soon as possible. At any event, they will be posted by mid week next week, on my usual day