Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Great Egret Acrylic Study


This is a study I did last week which was inspired by a photograph taken by Lowell Washburn who is with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources. Mr. Washburn was gracious in giving me permission to use his photo for a reference.
Other than the egret and the general coloration of the water, the rest of the painting came from my imagination. His image was cropped much closer to the bird and with very limited background. I decided I wanted more space and sense of place. I'd like to do a larger version and maybe use watercolors or my NEW Golden Open Acrylics.
This version evolved from one of my "frugal papers". The previous week I took left-over green and purple paints from my palette and smeared them across this linen textured paper with a palette knife. As I stood at my art table late one evening - wanting to just "play" a bit before going to bed - the reference picture caught my attention. Then I realized the colors on the paper would probably make a good foundation for a study of the egret. I think this was successful. I like the mood created by the purple and green.

1 comment:

Jodi Ohl said...

Love the study,the purple and green together are very striking, it makes your bird pop very well. Love it :)