From feathers to holes

We opened our little exhibition last night, I say little but we had 70 framed works, and lots of portfolio, unframed work. I thought I'd try selling cards of my work this time, they seemed to fairly popular so I think I will continue to do so. Now its waiting to see how I sell. In May we had a fantastic exhibition, so hopes are high.

I am still getting some work done on Bertie. I've moved away from feathers for a while, to let them dry, also to preserve my sanity!

I've now the somewhat daunting task to paint a colander.

Ham Art Exhibition

I'm exhibiting this weekend with my Art group. So please pop by if you're able.

The artist on this poster is very talented, Anna Tikhomirova, she's well worth seeing, as well as me of course!

Feathers, feathers, feathers

He's starting to get some form, I've been painting wet on wet, alternating between hard bristle brushes and softer ones, I had about 8 brushes to clean after today's session. He's perched on a colander, lots of reflections and uniform holes, I'm uncertain what my approach shall be. Mind you that's be the general approach to the painting on the whole!

This painting is starting to be fun. Today I was using fingers, rolling brushes and all sorts. The owner of Bertie has told me anything goes, and not to be too photographic. As I'm working in oils it gives me the opportunity to work with textures.

I'll be honest I'm making this up as I go along.

I know I want to try to capture the movement of him precariously perched on the colinder.

I hate feathers

It's not a good thing to discover that feathers are very difficult things to paint this early into a parrot painting. Today I've spent a long time trying to really understand how they work. You can't successfully simplify until you truly understand it. I think I'm beginning to, but I am still struggling with the overall shape of his head.

Bertie

My next commission, a parrot called Bertie. He's a character, generally up to no good! He's learnt to say 'wine o'clock' so I approve of him!

I'm back painting in oils after a long break. I'm using a 16x12 deep profile canvas.

I'm interested in all the colours in the greys, he's a grey parrot, perched on a metal colander. There's also lots of different textures to consider, Bertie's soft feathers, compared to the hard shiney metal.

Finished!

Made the final push on this to get it finished.
The girl in the background was the hardest to decide what to do. I made the decision to loose her hat because the shape was hard to recreate, then I decided to do away with her jumper around her waist. I liked the pink however the arm of the jumper was sticking out at a strange angle making it hard to read as a jumper arm. I had to make an artist judgement what her waist underneath it would look like.
I am pleased with the animation I've caught in their expressions and poses so kept the background plain. I have worked into the blue leaving brush strokes to also give a feeling of movement.
Now for the scary bit, waiting to hear if the lady who commissioned the piece is happy. I hope so I'm pleased with it, and enjoyed working with the lovely photos she sent me.
My next commission couldn't be more different. Its a grey parrot called Bertie, if the photos are anything to go by he's very mischievous!