Friday, October 30, 2009

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.

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