Troels Kirk

Skåne, Sweden, Raven Sentinel, acrylic, 92 x 65 cm (36 x 25½")

My Inspiration

After enduring a dreary, grey Swedish winter, my wife and I booked a February day in a big bird watching hide in the south of Sweden, mainly to observe golden and white tailed eagles attracted by wild goose carcasses. Confined in the blind for a full day from before sunrise to after sunset, we enjoyed an intimate encounter with these magnificent birds of prey. An unexpected bonus was observing a gang of intelligent ravens scheming and cooperating to distract the eagle’s attention long enough to steal some treats. The day resulted in hundreds of reference photos and a stack of composition sketches... a great reward for spending the long hours in darkness.

My Design Strategy

Back in my studio I decided to initially do a single raven portrait, to display the beauty of the iridescent, black plumage, the strong, intelligent eyes and never-ending vigilance of this splendid species. I chose to view the bird from the back, to feature the reflective wing and tail feathers, balancing the bird on a small pole, ready for immediate action, turning its head to keep track of incoming eagles. To obtain full focus on the bird, I chose a very simple background, just suggesting the surrounding vegetation and the grey winter sky.

My Working Process

A stretched Belgian linen canvas was quickly covered with a big bristle brush, using desaturated mixes of titanium white, unbleached titanium, Payne’s grey, sap green and tiny amounts of mars violet. I deliberately painted the background in loose, bold brushstrokes. The raven and post was painted with full detailing on top of a fast, dark wash. Mars and lamp blacks cut with alizarin crimson, burnt sienna and various blues were used to sculpt each feather. Final color accents were carefully placed to frame the bird contours. To widen the range of dark values, I used full strength process black for the darkest areas.

Contact Details

» Email: info@troelskirk.com

» Website: www.troelskirk.com