The flamingo is nearly blocked in with color...except for around the eye and the legs. I need for paint to dry to get closer in those areas. The feet (if that's what you call them on a flamingo, I'm not sure), need to get larger, but I like to start small and work larger. Some sand will be pushed up against the left foot to make it appear more in the sand. The strangest thing about this photograph was it was taken around 3:45 pm, and there is the strangest lack of shadows! I may have to fake some in. I have enough photographs of flamingos to see how they cast a shadow!
Look at the left side of the photograph below, about half way down. Note the extreme difference in color of the award winning photograph I took of another flamingo on the opposite side of the state of Florida. That flamingo's color was such a gorgeous vivid orangey pink! Flamingo's colors change according to age and how much shrimp they eat.
Here is as it looks a little bit enhanced with the computer. Putting it in the computer and playing around with the colors allows me to know how much I can saturate the actual painting without using paint. I will also use technology of my iPad to pull out more detail. The nice thing about the ipad is you can enlarge your photo you're working from and not have to print it out! You can truly hone in on detail too! I noticed the other day a class being taught using ipads right next to an easel, they were put on tri-pods to be held up. Here I thought I was being unique and ingenious! NOPE!
Please remember this is only the initial blocking in of color and I will be adding orange to the alizarin and alizarin purple to create a more vermillion type of color (which is my all time favorite color) to add some variance to the flamingo's color and not make it just shade of pink...that would be far too boring.
The legs (sticks??? haha) were made with the colors raw umber and alizarin purple, mixed with white, but I added a touch of the yellow from the eye to make it look muddy. Wow, did I ever like that color! The legs are very skinny, and right now a little wobbly and uneven. I need to make them more straight!
To think I still have to paint the sides of this painting. I have done an initial coat where I can, so it's just a little more I'll need to go over.
Ready to laugh? I've already decided to put my signature on the lower left hand side because I don't want to put it on the right and have it mistaken for a bird dropping...haha! Ya have to think of everything! I'm having so much fun with this painting. I'm especially adhering to that old adage Helen Van Wyke taught me, "Start with a broom and end with a needle" which means, start with the largest brush to block in color, and work your way down to smaller and smaller brushes until you're using the tiniest brush you know you'll work with to complete the painting. So you have to have guessed by now, I have a lot of detail I still want to pull out of this painting. Especially the feathers on the right, they don't look like much now, but wait! They will! And the feet have to get a "dirty" look, which will also come in time. First things first. So far though, I like the progress on this particular painting!
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