Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 9

Now I add depth and detail to the eagle. The eye and heavy beak are primarily rendered with cadmium yellow, burnt sienna and white, with burnt umber and ultramarine blue mixed to create a black in the dark areas. Subtle detail is painted into the underside of the wing and the pinion feathers of the outstretched wing are highlighted to reflect the breaking sunlight.

The near wing is painted with various shades of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, and burnt umber. The lighter details are mixed with the same colours, with the addition of white as well. When working with alkyd, the drying time is overnight at most, so it is easy to work these detailed areas, allow them to dry, then glaze a thin layer of colour over the entire area to unify and create depth before painting more detail on top. With traditional oils, this type of glazing can take weeks to complete.

The same process is used on the surface of the water, adding more detail and glazing over the entire area before adding more detail on top. It is a wonderful way to quickly build a feeling of animation and depth with subtle colour changes throughout. I use a wide, soft sable brush when glazing and a minimal amount of pigment mixed with a liberal amount of medium.

Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 8

With the sky and distant background more or less complete, I concentrate on developing the eagle and the surface of the water. It is important to establish a feeling of flight in painting the eagle, particularly in the sweep of the wings. Once again, I use alkyd paint, thinned with Liquin to glaze over the upper wing surfaces, allowing the feather structure to show through. I have also started to model the light and shadow areas of the head and tail feathers. Next, I begin adding highlights to the reflective surfaces of the water, first with a series of darker strokes, then a series of mid-tone strokes and finally some extremely light strokes along the shore lines near the horizon and immediately below the light area of the sky where the sun is breaking through the clouds. This light colour is not pure white, however, it is a subtle mixture of ultramarine blue, burnt umber and white. The very whitest strokes will be saved for final highlights on the painting.

Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 7

I have added a bit of white highlight to the edge of the cloud where the sun is trying to break through. This area was strategically placed just above the eagle's head, to help draw the eye to the eagle itself. The water now receives a glaze of ultramarine blue with a touch of burnt umber, mixed with a large quantity of liquin paint medium to make it extremely transparent. The glaze helps to unify the water's surface, although it reduces the feeling of animation somewhat. This will be rectified with carefully placed highlights later on. A dark mixture of burnt umber with a touch of ultramarine blue is used to paint in the shadowed underside of the outstretched wing and breast of the eagle. I also begin to paint in the darkest details and contours of the foreground wing with the same colour mixture.