STAGE 1
I started with the water using acrylic paint and turquoise blue acrylic ink sprayed with water to create runs. I then painted in the bird. Felt it needed something more at this point so I kept going. Splashed on some prussian blue wash around the bird to deepen the contrasts.
Spattered in some bright green highlights to the water (using toothbrush and whipping a small headed brush through the air), then added some more highlights and detail to the body and head of the bird - trying to get the shape more right - and finally added some suggestions of waterside foliage to put the bird in a little more context.
At this point, although I had planned to add some larger leaves to the foreground I decided to leave them out for the time being. Left the painting for a couple of days. Went back into studio and thought - actually it might be finished... But then the next day decided it did need something more in foreground, but not leaves. Going back to the original photographic source material I decided to add some sticky stalks to the left of the bird, to give more of the feeling of the bird wading through the grassy Everglades.
The finished piece. I really loved seeing these birds up close in the wild, and hope that this painting does this lovely feathery guy justice. The final painting is 29 x 39.5cm and is destined for the Paperwork 2 show I am taking part in, in August (part of Edinburgh Fringe 2015).
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Please leave some feedback for me! Sheila