Mediterranean Cruise

I arrived in Barcelona early yesterday morning to begin a twelve day Mediterranean cruise.  From here we will travel to Marseilles, France, Savona, Rome and Naples, Italy, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Venice, Italy, Messina, Sicily and then back to Barcelona!  There should be much inspiration for painting along the way!

The picture above shows the Mirador de Colom, a monument to Christopher Columbus, in Barcelona, near our hotel.

Columns from the Temple of Augustus, preserved in Barcelona, inside a building. 

I will post a few photos from the ports we visit over the course of the next two weeks.  This is my first visit to Europe and I am sure I will be filled with artistic inspiration all along the way.  There will be a great deal of art to admire and much architecture to see.  I will keep you posted.

Tropical Rain Forest Toucan - Step Four

I continue to add basic detail to the foliage behind the toucan.  Each plant has it's own shades of green.  The leaf structure and veins within them also vary from plant to plant.  In the background I paint subtle whisps of vines to suggest greater depth in the picture.

I continue to paint layers of detail into the leaves until they seem to be strong enough to stand out without overpowering the toucan in the foreground.  The last thing required is to intensify some of the colours in the toucan, mango, butterfly and tree frog.  The picture is complete when I ad strong white highlights here and there.  I save the greatest colour contrast and largest white highlight for the toucan and it's bill, so that it will dominate the picture, both in size and strength.