One of my biggest focuses this quarter has been the surface which I'm painting on. I scrapped using the raw birch plywood and have since switched over to using professionally built balsa wood panels which are cradled at a 2" depth and are perfectly smooth. They are professionally sanded, so it means that the notches I was encountering in the plywood no longer exist. The only thing I need to worry about is creating an ultra-smooth, gessoed surface, which is done by buffing the final layer of primer with a damp towel.
I have finished my blue jay painting below and am very pleased with how it came out. I experimented with using some Interference colors, which create a bit of an iridescent look when applied to colored paint. This allows for the feathers to retain a bit of a natural shine, as they have in life which really helps to push the illusion to a new level. I'm planning on experimenting with this much more in the future.
Tonight I'm working on finishing my third painting of a warbler specimen. I was having a small bit of trouble trying to determine composition for this piece and ultimately decided to put it in the direct middle of the panel. I'm not sure if it's the most successful way of composing this sort of painting, but I'm hoping the hyper-realism will really sink through to the viewer in this one and sort of hide the fact that it's so central.
Painting-wise, I am still having some troubles with the shadows on most of my pieces... these are the hardest parts for me since the smoothed background means I'm forced to blend my shadows outward rather than using a wet-colored background to bring both colors together. I tend to get a little carried away with them, so this next piece, I plan on making a realistic shadow my ultimate goal.
Catch you all on Thursday night!
- BF
No comments:
Post a Comment