So I spent time yesterday thinking about painting ideas and sketching some burdsz.
I really like cardinal expressions, I think, so most of the sketches are of them.
My first ideas for bird paintings, though, feature the little american kestrel perched in the elm tree that I shot out at the farm, and bluejays in old corn stalks, possibly pecking out the last of a cob. I'd do the jays rather closer up, I think, because a cornfield in context is a bitch to paint and I did bring home 7 or 8 full stalks so I could compose and paint from life, more or less. The bluejay idea has more potential for a pleasing color palette too (with orange/yellow against the blue jays). The kestrel piece certainly feels more wintery.
I also threw together the little bobcat from Oxbow and some of the dripping ice from the stream freeze. It's not necessarily true to a life experience (as I've never seen a bobcat there personally), but I think it has some of the drama of contemporary predator paintings, with a little midwest flair. I think it's appealing, anyway. If I'm going to do a dramatic piece, I'd want it to at least be from my own reference. I was also thinking that the bobcat compositions would benefit from a more twilight lighting without that direct sunlight--so more of a blue caste and a brighter sky behind the cat's head. I'll go out to Byron again today (because it's cloudy) and see if I can't find what I'm looking for.
While I'm there, I think I'll also document more of that outcropping in the stream, as I was thinking it would be a nice place for the deer I shot in Gramma's yard.
0 comments:
Post a Comment