Pastel bird painting of great egret

I started working on the composition of this painting last year and then had put it aside as I was busy with commissions. It was inspired from a photograph I took while visiting Florida during the spring breeding season. This Great Egret was busy pruning his feathers and long graceful plumes and seemed oblivious to the fact that I was a few meters away snapping shots of him.  

I will be posting a time-lapse video of the work in progress at a later date as I now must get back to those commissions waiting for me in the studio. 

 This painting is now SOLD!

Great Egret

untitled

pastel

9x14

Private Collection

Step 9 of Egret pastel painting

Now that I've completed the feathers on this bird and satisfied enough to leave them alone, I have begun working the foliage. At first, I painted the leaves a yellow green hue that went well with rest of the painting BUT just did not sit well with the frame. I then opted to try a blueish tint which was ok but perhaps a bit to saturated with blue.

After my third attempt (below), I believe this is the best color scheme that will suit both the frame and the rest of the painting. While it is nice to have frames on hand, sometimes, it can be a pain to match them to a particular color scheme in a composition and the artist has to be prepared to make changes along the way. Perhaps  I should have done a sample thumbnail composition first but I was happy experimenting and adapting the color scheme as I was working my way through this painting.

Step 6 Great Egret Painting in pastel

During the last few days, I've been working on making more time-lapse videos of  Pet Portrait Christmas commissions (which I will share in my next post).  Eventually, when this bird painting is finished, I will be making a video clip of it as well.

Later this afternoon, I took some time out to continue working on the wing feathers of the Great Egret. It can be hard to resist the temptation to overwork parts of a painting...which is what I unfortunately felt I was doing today! I think I will leave those parts of the wing feathers and move on to a different section...

Before the day is over, I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! I plan to create quite a number of personal pieces this year as I get ready for a solo show! 

Step 5 Great Egret Bird Painting work in progress

On this step I have completed most of the bird's long neck feathers. I continue to add dark to medium grey and brown pastel as my under-painting, to created those parts of the white plumage that are darkened by shadows. Stay tuned for more feather painting!!

For those who are curious, the bird is a Great Egret, (Ardea alba), also named the Common Egret, Great White Heron.

Step 4 of Egret bird painting using pastels

I am at the stage now where the bird is starting to pop out of the painting.  The light subject and a dark background creates strong contrast.  Keep watching for more updates!