Sea Parrot...painting puffins !

Good afternoon , another Thursday so another blog. I am back in my studio, watching Wimbledon ( always a joy at this time of year) Yesterday I was willing Chris Eubanks to win, alas my support wasn't enough to see him win, but watching him this year , rise so far above expectations, has been a pure joy.

Not a tennis fan ? Well the rest of my week has been taken up dealing with my ongoing ear infection ( gosh earache is annoying) and dodging showers. We managed a lovely walk near Fingle Bridge on Sunday This is my swimming spot  but no swimming for me for a while ( ear!!)

 

A local walk yesterday too, more shower dodging but well worth it when you are rewarded with these views.

 

Then some gentle days in the studio, painting the bees knees !

 

First I sketch out the puffin floating on the sea, then add a bit of masking fluid to represent the reflection, although later I do kind of paint over that bit but I do it now in case I think I might need it.

Then I paint the eye, Mainly grey ( cobalt blue and burnt umber) with a dark iris and a dot of white , the surrounded by a ring of orange, this is where your tiny brushes come in handy.

Then i add some shadows and texture to the face with cerulean blue and a purple colour made from cobalt blue and cadmium red, all done wet in wet.

Now to add the details on the beak , lovely Indian yellow and a touch of red to make orange

Look carefully and add the details

Then the black parts the highlights in cerulean blue and purple and the black parts with paynes grey. Let the colours merge, 

I used the same colours on the black at the top of his head

 

Now we are getting looser, more texture on the body and blues abd purples in the black parts the paynes grey, Have fun and see the patterns on the bird emerge.

Finally a hint at the waves with a lot of water and some indigo and cobalt blue

I waited for it all to dry and rubbed off the masking fluid, but I felt the reflections looked too harsh so I painted over them and added some white acrylic splashes

Have a lovely week this week and maybe paint a puffin x