Recently received a commission to do a Ruffed Grouse in gray scale. It was a nice change of pace to do something in just pure graphite. The client has a resident Ruffed Grouse that is very friendly and likes the spend time on his porch. So the client wanted something of him so he can put holiday cards. The picture about is only a crop of the bust since I didn’t want to show the whole piece in respect of the client. However this grouse had very distinctive thigh feathers which I thought was neat. My favorite part of the piece has to be the face though. Really like how the area around the eye came out.
All in all a really fun piece to work on and I hope to get more commissions in the future.
Specifications: Strathmore 9×12 inch 70.lb Drawing paper. Blackwing and General’s 4B pencil
This is the first 12×12 inch painting I did for my Christmas presents for my friends and family this year. I am not that strong of a painter, so this is also a way for me to try a new medium. Working through this first painting really helped me gain the confidence of putting down the paint and living with that decision. For a little more control I did use POSCA pens for the blue jay. However I think it came out nicely with the traditional acrylic paint. All and all I am happy on how it came out.
Here is the second 12×12 inch piece. Again I used both traditional acrylic paint and POSCA pens. I only used the POSCA’s for detailing however. What I am most proud of in this piece is the color mixing. Getting all the blue and grey tones together without really losing parts of the painting into one another. I did this best with the heron I think. The blue heron has all these shades of blues and greys and I was worried it was all going to blend together all muddy and just look like butt at the end. Especially with the blues and blacks in the background. To my surprise it came out crisp and clean and easy to read. So my knowledge on coloring mixing is all ready improving. Which makes me happy.
You can also see these paintings on my twitter and Instagram, links can be found on the side bar.
