This is my Territory.....

"Now hold on....." she says, "I can help you edit, so no worries!".......seriously, was just enjoying the nice weather today getting my computer chores taken care of outside for a change, when I got up for that second cup of coffee - came back to catch Panda editing my copy! 

(Such a know it all!)

Before somebody tried to take over, thought I would share a few steps to how I got from point A to point B and beyond on my latest painting.......starting again with a pre-upholstered collaged and gessoed canvas, (I know, I know, gotta demo that process - it's on my list) .....chose this particular paper simply because I wanted to continue exploring the theme of a previously finished painting (entitled "Mirror" and can be viewed on my FB page and when I get around to it; on my website).  First collaging the canvas provides great textures that add character to the finished piece.  The warm tones of this paper used were achieved by using burnt umber and yellow ochre - both a mix in some places and straight out of the tube in others, and was paramount to the mood I had created with "Mirror".  The exact opposite of the cool spring tones in the original reference photos ..... another way I like to challenge myself.  Some day I will learn to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) but for now, I  crave the complex over what I consider the mundane and boring..... ie; painting a photo just as it is.

I chalked the outlines and began by blocking in with burnt umber, the silhouettes within these lines of both the birds and cattails giving myself a clear map to follow.  

Painting the larger bird's head first, as soon as I had a few glazes down I quickly established that all important focal point (the eye)......which may or may not require fine tuning later on. 

For my blacks I am using a mix of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. Yellows are achieved with yellow ochre, hansa yellow medium, burnt sienna, and titanium white.....all mixed variously and/or straight with my what would appear to the "experts" as a somewhat chaotic fashion. (Ask me if I care :)

While having the best of intentions in the beginning to paint in what would be construed as an organized fashion, I very rapidly ALWAYS fall off course.  For instance I may start with the head, intending to finish it before starting on say the wing.  But it never goes as planned and I make no apologies for this because I think in the end it nets me a far superior painting.  How?  If I wasn't bouncing around the entire piece it would more than likely end up looking like a paint by number; not flowing from one area to the next.  I think moving around helps me to stay more cognizant of things like softening edges, and sharpening others, and once I get a value or edge down in one place it always affects the other so I am constantly adjusting for this.

The cattails are finished using burnt sienna, burnt umber, ultramarine blue, and titanium white.  Most of which is painted using one of my favorite brushes (it is so old and worn I don't even know what it was originally) its just this crappy old brush with a fat wide, flat end - maybe it was a stenciling brush.....then why do I have it? It is a mystery to me. I load it with  paint and "stencil-tap" the excess off before I start rendering the cattail with many layers of this up and down motion.  Starting with the darkest and gradually getting lighter as I go.

Next my eyes are drawn (pun intended) to the bird in the front, using the same colors as for the bird in the back, I made quick work of this little guy.....

Layer upon layer, building up his color, bouncing between his perch on the fluff to his feathers, back and forth until satisfied, then bringing up the focus on the back guy a bit by adding deeper hues of burnt umber in a geometric shape behind him.

Once I near the finish line, I scan the horizon and see yet another area I wished I had left with soft edges so I go back in with burnt umber just to the left of the back bird's head and breast losing my edges just a bit with the background.

Learning to put the breaks on (translate; walk away from it) is always tough for me to do but I am consistently pleased when I take this all important step because coming back to it eventually, it is always with fresh eyes, allowing me to fine tune it in areas I would not have even detected an inkling of need in, had I stayed at it.....and then usually over painting things (translate: screw things up).

Once I have these guys just so, it's time to add a few reeds for more of that abstract quality I love, and did so very simply here with globs (so technical) of paint and a palette knife.

So here is the completed piece; "Territory" .....

Really Panda.....I got this.... (this is my territory!)

Triple Threat..........

Utilizing  a variety of varied avian views....this Varied Thrush proved himself to be a very delightful challenge!  I am a bit timid when it comes to trying something new, something experimental, but I have thwarted that fear with this realization;  that it is ALL one big experiment..... and my job as an artist is to just press on and keep painting irregardless of the fear involved.  I just keep repeating; "It is all an experiment!"

Disappearing at an alarming rate from my feeders, I could not figure out how the Chickadee's were devouring so many sunflower seeds......until I set up camp one day, determined to catch the culprit.  It wasn't long before a pair of Varied Thrush showed up, all decked out, bejeweled and bedazzling in their suits of vibrant orange and black.  What I thought was a colorful contrast to the dull grays offered up these long winter months.  Then I saw it.  The feasting habits of these birds was like none other I had seen before at the feeder.  These voracious guys didn't bother to crack open the sunflower seeds, nor did they daintily eat them one by one.....they were literally like vacuum cleaners on a mission to inhale as many as possible and in short order!  And that is when I knew it was time to capture a few photographs, study them and then finally share them through my paintings........

Starting with a heavily gessoed deep canvas,  The "experiment" here was to start with an almost completed background full of rich color and texture; I literally "upholstered" the canvas in a collage fashion with paper that I had previously prepared (another blog I will explain that process)......I do many of these painted papers ahead of time, and chose this particular paper for it's earthy tones and possible woodland-ish look knowing it would be my backdrop for something avian in nature. 

The paper was prepared using;

 burnt sienna, burnt umber, yellow ochre, and just a hint of carbon black.  

I know, I know, a lot of artists  poo-poo the idea of using black, and I rarely do use it (preferring to make my own darks/blacks using existing colors in each piece, but when I am painting these papers it is done in a rather quick process and is also very intuitive, so there is no time to "mix" once I get going on them.....
(that's my excuse, and I am sticking to it!)

I started with my center thrush, the goal here was for just a

suggestion of him, so I stopped short of giving him his full color, knowing he would have a bird in front and in back of him 

I strategically left areas completely unfinished. The birds were painted using the same background colors but with the addition of cadmium orange, a little titanium white, and ultramarine blue.

It should be noted here that to place my birds; I use simple white chalk to make approximate outlines (so that it wasn't set in "concrete" until I actually paint it).  By using the chalk, it was easy to wipe the lines away with a damp cloth and to make any necessary changes over and over again without harming my background.

With the beginnings of the next two stars of our painting, for this piece I was working in a very direct fashion, meaning that I was laying down as accurate a color as possible - the first time - so I didn't have to do much glazing later on, I am after the freshest color possible here and applying it directly I feel, gives me just that.  At this stage, one of the first things I always do is get the eye's as close to completed as I can (including that white high lite) because if you don't get that connection right with the eyes, then there is no point in moving on.......and who wants to do an entire piece they are happy with but, save the eye's for last, and screw it up?  First things first!

Well, that all went as planned, until I stepped back and stopped "painting with my nose" so to speak.  I could then see from a distance much more clearly - on the foremost thrush, that my blacks were much too gray.  A quick fix with some glazing of deeper values fixed that problem......

A "suggestion" of branches was laid in next, again leaving them a bit ambiguous for the viewer to finish in their mind's eye.

Now all that was left to do was to darken areas around the heads and beaks, pulling out all the stops here I utilized not only black but burnt sienna, hooker green, ultramarine blue, and that often forbidden carbon black, making the focal point(s).....the bird's heads..... "pop" just a bit more! I was pleased with the final texture and overall look this experimental piece netted me, and to think; if I hadn't "just pressed blindly on" I would not have learned the joys of this, a new and what has proved to me, to be a delightful, surface to paint on!

TRIPLE THREAT .......acrylic on canvas 12" x 12"

I invite you to visit:

  www.DianaCamille.com

  to see more avian pieces.