Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The start of a new bird painting in pastel

I am taking advantage of some free time to start another piece but this time it will involve a scene from Western Africa. As you can see from the reference images, the subject is non other than beautiful crowned crane.

I am totally changing the backdrop for the bird as I didn't like the green grass on the reference photo I took at a sanctuary.  As for the scene,  I am hoping to capture a serene moment at dusk, depicting the lush grassland that make up part of  the bird's native habitat.

This is the first time I am using Pastlemat by Clairefontaine so it will be an interesting exercise.  It is very much like very fine sandpaper but I am realising that very different results are achieved depending on the blending method I use.

Bird Painting in pastel; work in progress by Colette Theriault
 
and tonight's update:
Avian paintings by Wildlife Artist Colette Theriault
 

2 comments:

  1. Interesting start, Colette! I look forward to seeing what comes next!!

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  2. Ir already looks good. I get excited when you do a wildlife work. Good luck with it.
    There were many Crowned Cranes in Uganda and many of them were very tame, allowing me to approach closely.

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