Work In Progress: Withlacoochee Flight, Update 15

Work In Progress: Withlacoochee Flight Update 15

            This painting is complete! (except for some touchups here and there, and some minor changes).

            The birds didn’t take as long as I thought they would. The nearer, larger bird has the most detail, but the smaller, farther birds are simpler. Surprisingly, I used a large range of colored pencils to do the work. The pencils used were: white, French grey (10%, 20%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 90%), dark sepia (FC), Cadmium yellow (FC), Raw umber (FC), and Yellowed orange. I also used a bit of cloud blue and Sky Blue (FC).

            I worked on the largest bird first. I also used a magnifying glass to more easily work in the details. Yellowed orange and Raw umber were used on the beak, with a bit of Dark sepia for detail. The eye is Dark sepia, some Cadmium yellow and Yellowed orange. The legs are Dark sepia. All the French greys were used on the shading. I added cloud blue and Sky Blue to the greys for shading to liven it a bit.

            The moss in the trees was completed with Moss green (P) and 10% French grey.

            I will be looking over the painting here and there to see if any additional work is necessary. There is always a bit of touchup, something I forgot or something to go over.

            I’ll be taking a week off after this to get out into the mountains of the Southern Appalachians for some hiking and photography.  I’ll also be doing some thinking about my next project – and it may be a portrait. 

Work In Progress: Withlacoochee Flight, Update 14

Work In Progress: Withlacoochee Flight Update 14

            Using the same colors and technique, I completed the grasses across to the right side.

I say “completed”, but I always reserve the right to touch up or modify parts. As I said before, I work on areas until I’m satisfied at the time, but I always check back here and there, glancing at various areas of the painting to see if anything “jumps” out and needs work. Many times I do find something. I’ll have to eliminate or add to an area, or add more detail.  For instance, one place I worked on over the past week was the entire mid ground tree mass on the right side. There seemed to be still some white showing here and there, so I went back over it, burnishing with more color until it seemed denser and more solidly filled in. I’ll probably do this with other areas if they appear to need it.

So, what is left now are the birds – the subject of the painting. 

Work In Progress: Withlacoochee Flight, Update 13

Work In Progress: Withlacoochee Flight Update 13

            The grasses across the midground are one of the most complex areas of the painting. There’s a complex pattern of flower stalks, complexity in the bunches of grass in how they lay, and the line of pickerel weed that stretches across the lower third of the mass of grasses. I worked in a lot of colors as I tried to represent this vegetation.

            One technique that I used often to indicate the thin leaf blades was impressing thin lines with an embossing tool. The light colored leaf blades were achieved by first laying down irregular patches of chartreuse (P) and other light colors, such as cream (FC), cadmium yellow (FC), light ochre (FC) and naples yellow (FC). Then darker colors, chromium green opaque (FC), chrome oxide green (FC) and raw umber (FC) were used on their sides and stroked across the impressed lines. This produced darker shadows behind the lighter leaf blades.

The lines for the lighter leaf blades were put in with very light pressure with the embossing tool and the darker colors were used with care. Heavy pressure on the embossing tool would produce larger, wider lines that wouldn’t look real. The impressed lines can be done prior to any color being laid in, and this would leave white, sunstruck leaf blades. White lines have to be minimal in number or they become too noticeable. That’s why I did most of them after putting down some color first. The lines can also be colored in later with a sharp colored pencil.

The darker shaded areas behind the light leaf blades are the darker, deeper areas between clumps. They’re irregular in shape and transition into the lighter tops of the grasses. I also lightly impressed thin lines here and there before putting in the dark shadows to indicate stems of grasses rising out of the shadows.

The yellow flower heads and the leaf blades were set off against the dark shadows of the trees in the same manner. The flower heads were colored in with naples yellow and yellow ochre (FC) and then further burnished or impressed into the paper with cream. In most cases the stalks below the flowers were impressed in with an embossing tool. Then, the dark backdrop of the trees was colored in with chrome oxide green and Tuscan red (P). The pencils were used on their sides at first until the grasses were outlined well. Then I carefully worked around them until the background was dark enough. In drawing them in I tried to include variety in height and spacing.

The line of pickerel weed (the darker stretch of plants) was drawn in first with a graphite pencil, then colored in with chrome oxide green, chartreuse, naples yellow and chromium green opaque.

Some the darkest shadows and dark colors at the water’s edge were done with burnt umber (FC). A bit of orange here and there resulted from goldenrod (P) and mineral orange (P).