Not all Birds Head South for the Winter!

Not all birds head south for the winter

In fact this bird will be traveling east to his new home in Hull Mass. This is a commissioned piece, recently completed, approximately 24" x  30" with a wrap-around canvas. The painting is based on a stunning photo in which the play of light and dark in the shallow water create as much interest as the heron itself. In fact the background was just a little too interesting to transfer successfully from photo to painting.

Taming the background

When I began working on this painting I knew the biggest challenge would be in making the heron stand out from the water. In the photo the heron is nearly the same colors as the water, providing very little contrast, which is fine for the heron who is trying to blend into his surroundings. But we want something different in a painting. A painting needs contrast: opportunities for brilliant colors to glow against subtle colors, and light colors to shine against dark tones.

After sketching the heron and some of the major patterns in the water, I under-painted in complementary colors to give the painting more "life". Underpainting in complementary colors lends a fuller, richer look to the finished painting, especially when some of the under-painting is allowed to show through create a nice dynamic tension to the surface.

I painted the water first, then painted the heron adjusting colors and values to contrast with the water. The color of the heron in the painting is "amped up" and definitely darker in value compared to the heron in the photo. The lines around the feathers are more prominent than they are in the photo and are painted with high contrast to add definition and texture. I increased the orange-y rust color around the neck for contrast. The warm orange/rust comes forward and the cool blues recede. 

Glazing

When the painting was nearly finished I mixed a combination of glaze with soft blues and purples (very little color, mostly glaze) and painted it over the water to further subdue the background. It worked!

As I was working on this painting I kept finding so many "lessons" within the piece from start to finish and it made me wish I was still teaching. We'll see how long my teaching hiatus lasts!

Title?

I haven't thought of a title yet. any suggestions?

Related posts

If you are looking for more information on working with underpainting in complementary colors, check out this related post from a couple of years ago.

http://joanapplebaumart.blogspot.com/2013/08/red-white-and-beauties.html

Red, White and Beauties

I began this painting as a demonstration piece for an Acrylics Class I was teaching at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton. In this class I was teaching a method of creating radiant color by beginning with an under-painting of complementary colors. Although many people think of acrylic paints as thick and rather plasticky, and apply the paint in that same way, I prefer to use my colors a little thinner and use the under-painting to build up layers of transparent color. Allowing successive layers of color to build up lends a fuller, richer look to your acrylics.


The process can be a bit tricky especially when trying to find just the right complement for your under-painting. A color wheel is helpful if you have trouble remembering where the colors lie on the color wheel and how they are made. And of course which colors are complements: Red/Green, Blue/Orange, and Yellow/Purple. The red/green, blue/orange and yellow/purple relationships are pretty easy to figure out, but it's important to take into account the temperature of the colors. Red is considered a warm color, but reds like Alizarin Crimson can be cool in temperature, and Cadmium Red is a warm red. We can find these relationships in all of our colors. So when we are looking for just the right red to under-paint an area that will be ultimately green, we need to decide if we are looking at a warm green (toward yellow) or a cool green (toward blue)and use a corresponding red, warm or cool.


 But what about brown, tan, beige, gray, black or white? I usually think of the browns, tans etc. as a darker version of orange and under-paint with very subtle, smoky blues. Orange over blue under-painting makes a fabulous brown and you can lighten the color a bit with white or an off-white paint.


When I need to create grays I usually rely on mixing a few complementary color combinations (red and green work well). I also try to find the underlying color in the gray...is it rather like a cool blue? or a warm purple? and add bits of that color in too. Again you can use white to lighten.


And as far as black goes: I never use it. I prefer to mix a combination of Alizarin Crimson, dark green...usually Hooker's Green or Pthalo Green and Ultramarine Blue. So, how do I under-paint that? I look for the underlying color or temperature, paint that layer first, then add my red/blue/green combination. You can vary the amounts of each of those colors to create warm or cool "blacks". Lots of Red will give you a warmer "black", lots of blue a cooler "black".


One of the challenges in painting Red, White and Beauties was finding the color for the background wall. The building itself was a beige tone, but had an almost bluish cast in the photograph. The shadows were a darker blue. I was attracted to the shadows on the wall and the reflected colors on the window, as well as the colorful floral arrangement and flag spilling out of the basket. I wanted the wall and window to be as colorful and lively as the flowers in the foreground, but a bit more subdued so that they didn't fight with the focal point. So I under-painted the wall in vivid shades of orange, then later added a layer of blue applied in a thin scratchy manner to let plenty of the warm orange tones show through. The shadows were painted a darker blue, especially the one underneath the basket.


All of the colors used in the treatment of the flowers and flag were mixed together later in various combinations to make the more neutral dark tones used in the basket. In fact even the less neutral tones in the background window reflections and wall were made with the reds, blues, greens and yellows used to paint the flowers. Using the same colors to mix new neutrals adds to the cohesiveness of the composition.


Throughout the composition I distributed touches of bright red, especially in the basket, to counterbalance the red in the flowers and in the flag. I did the same with the white paint to balance the white stars and stripes. I had to subdue the white of the stars and the stripes because the stark white was drawing immediate attention to the flag and not allowing the viewer's eyes to travel around the painting. So I glazed blue and purple over most of the white to de-emphasize the color. After the painting was finished I applied a coat of gloss medium to add extra depth and shine to the painting.