4-29-09 - Avian Odyssey

Touch up highlights and detailing the moon.  The painting is finished.

4-25 &26-09 - Avian Odyssey

I worked on the heron, the water and the moon.  Even though this is basically a monochromatic painting in shades of blue, to highlight the outcropping on the right and the heron, I added burnt sienna to the mixture.  It helped bring out the depth and shading.  I also used cad. yellow medium and white for some of the highlighting.

4-16-09 - Avian Odyssey

Using the #2 round ebony splendor and the #4 flat ebony splendor, I underpainted the two heron.  The colors I used were ultramarine blue, white, Payne's grey, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson in varying combinations.  And I underpainted a rock for the small heron to stand on.  This time when I bought paint, I got the soft body.  It's creamier.  Before, I got the high viscosity which is thicker and added water.  I think I prefer the high viscosity.  It covers better when I need it to.

3-24, 4-12,13,14,15-09 - Avian Odyssey

I took a break from creative work to reorient myself.  I was just getting back into it, when my literary agent, Tom Lee, asked to represent all five of my manuscripts.  So I reread and rewrote and sent them to him.  Once that was done I resumed painting.

I painted over an old painting, then painted in the background.  I had a bit of a struggle keeping the blues from being swallowed up by the dark blues and blacks.  It's just a matter of trying different color variations.  What helped was to add a little alizarin crimson to the Payne's grey, ultramarine blue and the white gesso.  For white, I always use white gesso.  It makes the paint more opaque.  Next I drew in the Heron.