ARTIST’S HINTS AND TIPS
• A daylight bulb is great for making sure that colours are trueto-life, and it provides a strong, clear light. I like working with two lights coming from different directions, helping avoid the shadows made by hand and brush.
• I often carry a camera with an extra telephoto lens with me not just for dedicated photo shoots, but for those everyday moments. You never know when you may stumble across that beautiful lighting or interesting reflection. Inspiration can come from unexpected sources. • Once you think you’ve finished your painting spend some time just looking at it - walk past it, stand back, without brush in hand. Live with it for a time. This may give you an opportunity to see it more objectively and dispassionately and improve any little things that you may not have noticed while you were in the painting process.
STEP THREE
Once I had added more definition to the lines in the water, softly blending different tones of blues, I started to block in the light and dark parts of the main pelican. Notice the reference photo of pelicans attached to the easel which I used for accuracy of anatomy and direction and shape of feathers.
During the painting of a piece, I usually spend a lot of time with the canvas upside down or even sideways, odd as that may seem to those who haven’t tried it. It really helps me to approach the painting and its details objectively … to stand back and look impartially at the shape and shading on which I’m working.
STEP FOUR
The other two pelicans were blocked in with Payne’s Grey, white, blue/ mauves for shadows and flesh colour for beaks. At this stage, colour is placed to show basic tone, a little like a map of where to go next.
There is a common analogy that you begin a painting as though using a broom and finish as though using a needle! I seem to follow that tendency - wild and rough to start, to which I must admit I’m naturally inclined, and then as I’m aiming for detail and realism, slowly layer upon layer refining until figuratively ‘painting with a needle’.
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