Original Oil Painting Mosaic Clematis

Mosaic Clematis

12" x 12"

Painted on gessobord.

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Original Oil Painting Who Who Owl

Who Who Owl

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10" x 10"

Painted on gessobord.

Original Oil Painting Your Tern

                                  Your Tern

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                                            Painted on a 10" x 10" gessobord.

Worked on my painting some more. I used a photo from Jacqueline Francis a photographer who donates photos to be painted. I thought it was a seagull but found out it is a tern. Terns look like seagulls so you can see why I thought this was a photo of one. So now the title is: Your tern to be Life Guard or Tern?

I also noticed last night that I did not lighten up the dark hues. When a camera takes a photo it has the tendency to make all the dark hues the same value. The shadow on the back of the bird of the birds head was the same value as the dark grey on the wing in the photo. It just did not look right. It looked more like a spot of color instead of a shadow. I posted Jacqueline's photo below.

If you are wondering why I flipped it, I just thought it looked better having the focal point ( the tern's head) in a better position in the composition. I wanted the viewer to enjoy all the grass colors before leaving the painting. 

Here is a question for everyone: Should I change the title to just Tern?

                                      

                                                                                        

Original Oil Painting Life Guard Seagull

Life Guard Seagull 

10" x 10"

Painted on gessobord.

Original Oil Painting Chopped Eclair

Chopped Eclair

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10' X 10"

Painted on gessobord.

 I took some photos before devouring this sweet treat. I had to swipe a cherry from my husband's eclair to balance the composition and it was well worth it. I think all eclairs should come with two cherries, don't you? Yummy to eat and fun to paint.  

Original Oil Painting Red Robin Come Over

Red Robin Come Over

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10' X 10"

Painted on gessobord.

Original Oil Painting Basking in the Sunlight

Basking in the Sunlight

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9" x 12"

Painted on gessobord. 

I found this little, lovely by the pond. I love how it was basking in the warm, sunlight. The top of the iris was a very peachy, pink while the bottom petals were a soft, light violet. It had such stark contrast of light and dark that I was afraid I might over state it. I will think on this and come back to it tomorrow.

I could not wait until tomorrow. I took a two hour break and I was back at it again. I added a little more contrast to the background to balance the strong contrasting values in the iris. Then I checked all my colors one more time looking for any muddy shades and adding more color to my hues. Increasing the saturation of color in the iris helped warm it up and made it less washed out. The photo below is what I posted first. I hope you can see the difference.