Psalm 104:24-26 O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships; there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
Last year when I completed my Humpback whale painting that I interred in
the fair I really wanted to keep the momentum moving forward with
more art. I did not want to repeat what I had done 7 years ago! This
was not my first choice for another painting, I have several ideas
for more sea life art but this one just kind of stuck in my head. I
love the ocean and will always be working on something that has to do
with it. The bird painting I just completed for the fair this year
was started at about the same time last summer as this one. I put all
my focus on it though for the fair this year and set this one off to
the side. So it is time to finish it. A friend of mine after seeing a
picture of my bird painting asked me if I had anything else done. I
showed him a picture of this piece and said I need to finish it
though. He said, “Why, its not done”? No, I still have more to do
on it. This year my goal is to complete more than one painting and I
know to do that I will have to work really hard, but it is doable.
My
inspiration for this painting came from a You Tube video of a mother
and calf I had found wile looking for some more reference material.
The calf at on point leaped out of the ocean and I immediate thought,
“that would make an interesting painting”.
At
first I was going to do the same thing with this one that I did with
my last whale painting by having an angle to the surface of the
water. I like that type of effect and will use it in the future but
decided to come back to a flat surface for this one. When I started
on the blue for the water and sky I was having some trouble blending the colors
together. I was using some slow-dry blending gel medium but it just didn't seem to be
working for me. It was the first time I had used it and I thought I
was doing something wrong. When I let it set for a day it looked a
lot better.
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| The blank board. Funny how every painting starts this way. When I get an idea, I can see the finished piece in my mind. It is bring it to completion that I sometimes struggle with. |
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| My first attempt for the sky and water. I don't know why I had a harder time blending the water, as to the gradation from top to bottom, on this piece, then with the last whale painting I did. It was the first time I had used a slow-dry blending gel medium. I need to be a little more patient with it next time! The sky is a mix of light blue permanent, brilliant blue, titanium white and just a little ultramarine Blue(green shade). The bird painting I completed this year I switched to using cerulean blue for the sky instead of brilliant blue because of a suggestion from a you tube video on painting skies and clouds. I like the cerulean blue a lot better because the light blue permanent and brilliant blue, I feel, have more of a green tint to them, which works great for the water. For the water I am using a lot more brilliant and ultramarine blue. |
Next
was the sky. I was happy with how it was looking so I decided to start
on the whale that would be in the background at the bottom of the
painting. When I started this piece I was undecided with the direction the whales would be going in the painting but I settled on my original plan of them moving from left to right. As I finished transferring the tracing to the board I
noticed a pencil smug just below the whale. I tried to remove it but
I made it worse. I was dreading the thought of having to redo the
background, especially after all the trouble I had in the beginning.
There was no getting around it so back at it I went. Again, I felt I
was having the same problems blending the colors but when I let it
set for a day it looked great. I went over the sky to because I
noticed that some of the paint from re-doing the underwater splashed
up into that area. I learned a good lesson though on how I transfer
my drawings to the board. Sometimes I have noticed that I will get
graphite from the pencil tracing on my hand and that is probably how
the smug got their. When you are starting out on a blank canvas it is
no problem but if you are laying it down on top of a painted area,
well I am more careful now. There are other ways you can do it but it
works the best for me. I would love to have a digital projector but
they are a little out of my price range right now.
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| I was so happy with how the clouds were looking. I should have taped that area off when I re-did the water. I didn't think I was going to splash paint up their! Oh well. |
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| Here I am laying out the arrangement for two of the whales that will be in the painting. I changed the look of the mothers tail, as you will see in the photos below. It was looking to much like the one on the mother of the last whale painting I did. |
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| I know you can't really see the smug here, but If you look at the center of the picture, come down about half way, it is just to the left. I tried to use an eraser to get rid of it but that just made it worse. The blending gel medium I used also retards the drying time of the paint and that probably added to my problem. |
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| My second attempt for the sky and water. I could say a third time would be a charm but I don't even want to go there! I learned some new techniques, so that is a good thing! |
last
year wile working on my previous whale painting I came upon this art
book by the artist Wyland at a local art supply store. There are some
great techniques in his book. Some are just your basics but it helped
me more when I started this painting, because of how fare I was along
with the other one last year. It is fun when you come upon techniques
that other artist have been or are using and can say, “Hay, I am
doing that”! I am not trying to be cocky. I do not have a BA or
Masters degree in art. For the most part I am a self taught artist.
Some of it does come from natural abilities to! I am trying to build
up my library with books of artist and their techniques. Wyland uses
a technique for the outline of his whales in his paintings with white
paint. I decided to try it but came back to using black paint. He
works wet on wet and can do a painting in one setting which I admire!
His method allows him to blend the background to the whales in the
foreground but I like to let the background areas dry first and then
come back in and paint my foreground objects. For me right now I like
to use a method of building my layers of paint up a little at a time
because of the results that I achieve when I do. I am a caucus
person, not good at taking risks! I am not knocking his way of
painting. I have learned some good techniques form his book and will
use them in the future. We all have our way that works best for us
but it does help to know what other artist are doing. Especially when
you get stuck!
Back to adding the tracing of the
whale that would be in the background. After I had the tracing down
again and outlined it with white paint I started filling it in. I was
amazed at how fast it progressed. The only thing I would do to it now
is maybe some more highlights but that is it. And maybe try and fade
the image some more to give it depth. Like it is farther back in the
water.
