Still painting...

I've been painting from a photo I took while in Australia.  This was on the way to Philip Island, which is south of Melbourne, and home to the "Penguin Parade".  The Penguin Parade is the march of roughly a little over a thousand of "The Little Penguin" (that's their official name and they are the smallest penguins at about 12" tall, about the size of a Barbie doll), when the penguins strut out from the ocean, onto the beach to nest in the grasslands.  It happens every night about a little past nine o'clock.  It is a sight to see.  They waddle and then fall down, and like dominos, the next one falls...simply hilarious.  Some are molting so their bodies look puffy.

So on our way to Philip Island, we went out on a boat to an area where literally thousands of seals lie on rocks and the baby seals play in the water.  Such fun to watch the baby seals.  On the way to and from the seal area (this photo was from the return part of the trip), there is this gorgeous rock with all kinds of colors in it.  I need to add more rust color in the rock I've painted, but it's too wet right now.  And the background hill needs to be a little less bright, but it was spectacular to see.  The contrast was amazing. The waves were rough, but the water was remarkable shades of all kinds of blue.

I was so unsure of what colors to use on that colorful rock, I just put out a ton of paint and guessed at what to use.  I experimented with a few new colors.  (Great way to learn...just experiment.)

What you can't see between the wave in the middle of the picture and the large rock, is a small stretch of land, with seals all over the place.  It was quite a day and the little ship was tossed about, but I didn't get sick, but I did keep on snapping away with my little Canon point and shoot.  I never had a clue Australia was so gorgeous and diverse.  I wish I had taken my good NIKON, but as I've stated before it gets heavy and, actually, on this trip with how the waves were all over, I'm glad I didn't have the better camera.

Here is the progression of the painting.  Lots to do yet!

After about an hour of painting, just to block in color.

Here is the photo from which I am working.

Starting to put in the background hill and large rock. 

About another hour's worth of work.

Note how I changed the color of the sky, I loved how I got it too, I will have to remember that!

Check out that confusing palette!  The painting is too wet to continue, so I will work again tomorrow.  

Thanks for visiting my blog.