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.