Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 10

In the final stage of this painting, I add more detail to the wing feathers by modelling individual feathers with a range of tone and colour. I highlight the upper edges of the feathers to create a slight shine and to further accentuate the complex plumage. More detail is also added to the eagle's head and tail feathers. The breaking light in the sky and the reflection on the water is worked up a bit more and the painting is pretty well complete. Once the signature goes on, "Between Nations" is done!

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.

Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 6

Now I build up the intensity and detail in the trees and bridge structure.  The colours are mixed with a combination of permanent green, ultramarine blue, burnt umber and white.  Next, I begin painting over the acrylic underpainting of the water.  Initially, I had simply suggested the movement of the surface waves.  Now I begin to model the ever changing surface of the water, using three tones of blue-gray.  This gives me a dark, a mid-tone and a light colour to work with.  The mid-tone represents the general surface, reflecting the sky.  The darks suggest the deepest troughs between the waves and the lights suggest the most prominent peaks of waves, which catch the maximum light.  Taken all together they suggest liquid movement.  I add some permanent green to my darkest tone to create the reflections of the trees in the water.  

Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 5

Now I begin my finished painting, working in alkyd paint.  I usually begin this work by painting in the sky, which is the furthest away from the viewer.  I intensify and blend the deepest shades of ultramarine & cerulean blue, mixed with white and a bit of burnt umber, at the highest point in the sky, lightening the mixture and removing the burnt umber as I move down toward the horizon.  Burnt umber has a greying effect on the blue mixture which dulls the blue of the sky. 

 As I get nearer to the horizon, I want a cleaner, brighter colour, so now I reduce the ultramarine blue, keep the cerulean blue and add more white into the mixture.  The sky should normally be darkest at the zenith and lightest at the horizon, creating a "dome" effect.

While the paint is wet and workable, I paint the clouds in, blending them softly into the sky.  The lightest and brightest colour is reserved for the area about the eagle's head, where the sun is attempting to break through the overcast.  The clouds appear to be mostly white, but there is a tint of ultramarine blue and burnt umber throughout these soft masses.  Save any pure white for final highlights where needed when the painting is almost complete.  

Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 4

Now I begin blocking in areas of the painting with simple colours, using acrylic paint mixed to a  rather thin consistency.  The sky is primarily cerulean blue, darkened somewhat  with ultramarine blue at the top of the canvas and lightened with white nearer the horizon.  The land mass in the background is a mixture of sap green, ultramarine blue and white.  The darks that I have painted into the plumage of the eagle is burnt umber.  The ripples on the water are a mixture of burnt umber and ultramarine blue.  A bit of white is used to highlight the area lit by the sun breaking through the clouds in the background.  Not much paint has been applied yet, but already the mood and general look of the painting has been established.  A painting begins to emerge! 

Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 3

In this stage I trace down my drawing onto the canvas.  As you can see, the earth tones of the first priming show through the second layer of cooler gray priming.  When I paint in the studio, I usually work out a drawing first, then transfer it to the canvas.  If I am painting on location, especially out-of-doors, I often paint directly onto the canvas with no preliminary sketches.  The two methods usually produce completely different results, since pre-planned drawing will usually be tighter and more controlled.  Direct painting, on the other hand, will give you a looser, freer picture.  In this planned painting, I am drawing from photos that I have taken on the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Island Bridge between Canada and the USA.  Once the transfer to canvas is completed, a little spray of fixative keeps the graphite from smearing when I  begin to overpaint the drawing.

Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 2

After the toned canvas has dried, I decided that I would prefer a cooler ground for this picture, so I mix a new batch of gesso tinted with a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt umber, producing a gray tone.  I repaint the canvas with this color, completely covering the original earth tones.   The new gray surface is still warmed somewhat by the first colour mixture that I applied underneath and I feel this is a more suitable ground for the picture I am about to paint.  Now I am ready to begin drawing and painting on the primed canvas.

Painting Progression-Between Nations-Step 1

This painting will be another departure from what I have demonstrated previously.  The painting was a recent commission that I was pleased to receive, since it fell right into the type of picture that I had already been planning to paint next.  Many of my paintings feature the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River, between Ontario, Canada and upper New York State in the USA.  When I was a boy, Bald Eagles nested and fished near my home on the St. Lawrence River.  When the pesticide, DDT became heavily used in the 1950's and 60's, this population of eagles was wiped out, along with many other species in that locale.  In recent years, the Bald Eagle has made a come back to the river and the population is slowly increasing.  Once again eagles can be seen soaring over and fishing the wide waters of the Thousand Islands.

At this point, there is little to see, but I have begun priming my canvas with acrylic paint.  I use a flat, bristle brush to apply a tone to the canvas.  The colour I choose will affect the finished piece, acting as a ground for the colours that follow.  I often use a warm earth tone mixture of burnt sienna and red.  The other colour that I most often use is a blue-gray for a cooler ground.  Here I have started with the warm, earth coloured mixture, which I have combined with gesso to fill the weave of the canvas.  I cover the entire surface evenly and allow it to dry.