Chickadee Drawing & Painting

Yesterday I drew my chickadee, then used graphite paper to transfer it to a 12" X 16" stretched canvas.  Then, I used black and white gesso to put the shades of greys and blacks on the chickadee.  The chickadee that I drew is on the middle right, and the picture I used as a guide is on the left bottom of the photo below. 

Today, I taped up the chickadee with masking tape, and painted the background of the oil painting.  Then, I removed the masking tape & finished up painting the chickadee.  After that, I finished up the rest of the painting. 

The painting probably could have used more pine needles, & I still need to work on that brush stroke/technique.  But, this is my very first bird painting and I like it.  Thanks goes to Wilson Bickford for creating the "packet" that I followed for this painting.  It also made creating this painting an enjoyable experience. 

I hope you all like it.  I'm happy with this painting................Amy

Late Day Sunset Over The Ocean Waters -- 5 photos showing progress

Well, today I attempted my first late day sunset over the ocean.  It took about 3 1/2 hours.   It is on a 12"  X  16" stretched canvas. 

I have 5 photos of the painting process that I took in various stages.  

This first photo is of the canvas.  The background is all painted in orange acrylic paint,..even though it looks pale yellow here.  After that application dried, I took black acrylic paint and put in the dark and medium places on the canvas.

The 2nd photo is of my grey colored, large paper pallet & paints that are used in this sunset painting.  I do have a wooden pallet, and a plastic pallet, but, they would require me to hold them up with my left hand and paint with my right hand.  If I were standing up and painting, that would work great.  However, I paint sitting down with a table easel.  I just tape a piece of the grey pallet paper to the table cloth, and I'm set.  It is real easy clean up too...just fold it gently and throw the paper pallet in the trash. 

Before these oil paints were applied in this photo, I put clear medium all over the canvas to aid the application of the oil paints.  This is a photo of the stretched canvas with some oil paints actually applied---mostly in the water area and the lower sky area.  

This 4th photo shows the painting after the oil colors were added in the sky area.   Also, the clouds have had other colors added to them too.   Actually, the blueish looking part of the sky is composed of 3 different shades of blue and a little violet.  The lower sky has the red, gold, and yellow in it.  I didn't have one paint I needed to mix up the gold color, so I used something else and it didn't allow the gold color to show up and brilliant as it should have. 

The final photo shows the brighter yellow put in up and around the ball of the sun.  This color is actually lemon yellow and white mixed together.  

Again, I didn't have the exact yellow, so, I substituted the lemon yellow.  In a year, this is the only time I've found a use for the tiny tube of lemon yellow I have.  It came with a starter oil set I got when I first started painting last  year.   

The water also has turquoise and white mixed up and applied to show movement of the water.  That part didn't turn out too well.  I hope I can learn to do that part better or learn a different way to do it.   

All in all, it is fair for a start at a new painting subject.  I don't like it, but, it could have been worse.  I  know you all think I'm hard on myself, but, I just think I'm being honest.  Tomorrow or the next day, I'll try another sunset or a beach scene with water.  There is just a whole lot out there to learn and I'm going for it !!!

Rolling Hills In Front Of Mtns (1st & 2nd try)

I have 2 photographs of the same painting in this blog.  The first photo is of the painting when I first tried to do it, about 4 months ago. ~~~>>>>

At this time, the painting seems sooooo difficult and I just couldn't get it looking right.  Those are supposed to be two mountains in the back, with a greener hill in front of them.  Then, coming from the R side is a hill covered in evergreen trees.  Then, there is the green grass up front.  On the L & R sides are two vacant places where two trees are supposed to go.  In this first attempt, I stopped before painting these trees.

In this attempt of the same painting, four months later, everything just fell in place.  I started it in the morning & by 1:30 pm, I was done and cleaning up.   LOL, I hope that the mountains look like mountains and that the hills look like hills this time around.  BTW, the little white looking trees are dogwoods. 

Today, Grover mentioned that I had painted a lot of trees and mountains.  When I thought about it, he was right.  So, this afternoon, I was looking in some art books and I found a nice sunset picture over the ocean that I'd like to try tomorrow. 

In preparation for that painting tomorrow, I painted a 12"  X  16"  stretched canvas with orange acrylic paint.  Next, I will be putting in the dark black and medium grey colors with black acrylic paint.  I kind of hate that part, but, in this particular painting, I think it will definitely work to my advantage.  The two under-coats in acrylic paint prepare the canvas for oil glazes over the acrylic paints. 

I'm excited about trying to paint a different kind of subject tomorrow.  Since I will be painting my first sunset and first ocean view near dark, painting it will be quite a challenge, but, one I'm ready to face.  I'll have to leave my comfort zone and venture out.   Yay!  So, don't be surprised if the painting tomorrow doesn't turn out too well.  With practice, they will get better!