skip to main |
skip to sidebar
When is a painting an original, all one's own work? To what extent may one make use of images or ideas that one finds elsewhere - e.g. on the Internet?
This painting of Blue Tits is a case in point. The idea for this painting came from a photograph taken by Mark Hamblin, It was a perfectly good photograph, and would have made a fine painting; but I did not wish to copy it slavishly; and I also wanted to include more detail in some areas.
So, the concept - blue and yellow birds and blue and yellow clothespegs. I did not use Mark's birds: I searched for other models, and found two more based on a further pair of photographs. The bird feeder is a composite - the net, its contents, and the twine, are all from separate sources.
As for the clothespegs - I must thank my wife for those!
First - the peanuts! One at a time; CarbOthello and Derwent pastel pencils, on Pastel Mat.
Then the first birds:
Background blocked in loosely, after much of the detail has been done - don't want any smudging.
A more completely shaded background, moving from my workhorse Rembrandts to Sennelier.
There is still some detail to refine - tomorrow!
Dicentra spectabilis (Bleeding Hearts, or Lady-in-the-Bath) is in flower in Irish gardens right now. So is Forget-me-not. I thought they made a nice composition.
This is a pastel on Ingres paper (which I don't really like); the original is 16 x 12 ins, or 40 x 30 cms. The sequence is self-explanatory.
The sketch was done with Derwent pencils and with CarbOthello. Derwent Magenta 22B, 22D and 22F; and Crimson Lake 20B, 20D and 20F.
The background was kept to greens and blues of like value, mainly Sennelier 394, 293, 294, 351, 764, 395, 336 and 947. Rembrandt got a look in with 618.9 and 512.9.
Initial block-in of flowers was Rembrandt Red Violet Light 546.8. Phthalo Blue 570.5 and Yellow Ochre 227.5. Sennelier 947 is a very light mauve-violet, used for the transparent part of the Dicentra.
The blues for the Myosotis were Rembrandt 506.5 and 506.7.
The Dicentra were Sennelier 710-713 in the main, also 52, 54, 56, and 378, 380, 383, 384. And one dark magenta Schminke!
