Welcome to the Maverick Gallery "On the Easel"

This is an area where I detail what I'm currently working on or have just finished. Its to add insight into how I work and the disasters I overcome or don't....as the case may be :)

This is a work in progress of  "Autumn Gold"

It is a 22" x 22" watercolour on very heavy bockingford paper.

The piece is intended as my Sistine Chapel! I intend to make this the very best I can do, how ever long it takes it needs to be wonderful :) Blending the vibrant colours of Goldfinches with the warmth of autumn leaves should create a striking piece. I'm balancing the warmth with the tree branch being semi dead, the leaves come from the climber intertwining itself as it climbs. For me, 22" is a monster! I can hardly reach the top as I paint it, so its quite a challenge. Ive chosen 3 birds for this piece. An odd number seems to balance things better and I have posed them to offer some character and variation to the overall feel.
 

Hopefully you can make out the pencil sketch enough to figure it out! There is a rising branch from just of central at the bottom and secondaries leading to the right and up. This layout turns the eye to the centre of the piece and the 3 birds form around that area. It should feel balanced.
I have soaked in-between the pencil work and just allowed a little blue/grey to seep in. I don't want to over power the sky, I need it to feel distant and misty. There is a lot of close detail in all of the main subject so it must not feel overpowered.

Next thing was to find the colour base I want. You can see that I experimented on a leaf with some fawn bases but was not happy. It wasnt vibrant enough and I needed a more golden feel. So using naples yellow as a wash on the top left leaf I worked the tonal values and added a touch of ultramarine to add a little green. Light red and burnt umber blend to the yellow to start the autumn feel. By contrast the actual branch is not part of the "live" plant so I used some greyer colour bases with a hint of light red to keep it semi warm.

Below is where the foliage work really begins. I was undecided if I should work down the whole piece as I go (and paint each bird in at that time) or do the birds last. I have decided to leave the birds till last. Mainly because the palette has the foliage paints in it and breaking away to a bird then back again several times would risk changing colours half way through. You can see how Im intending the light to come from upper left and strike the leaf curves. Painting on then dragging out paint creates a nice golden highlight adding warmth and depth. The thinner branch retains some pinky colour in its highlights.

Ok.

So you can see below I've worked across the top. I'm sorry the images are a bit blurry, I'm using a camera as I go, I will have to improve my photo skills for the final images! The leaves are now holding various tonal values. Again using Naples yellow, ultramarine to get the green, light red and burnt umber for the markings. The palette is messy by now so the colours are working well!

Although a bit out of focus you can see the branch work here. And the vine twists. I'm adding the fall shadows as I go so that I don't forget them! Im also aware that I want a slight knurled and twisted feel to the newer tree shoots and stems. This heightens the vine twists and adds character.

The images above and below show the leaves a little further down. The strength is a little deeper and leads the eye away from the top more. This makes the piece feel larger and in perspective with a branch rising from the eye line. By laying leaves over each other I can create more depth, especially with shadowing. The piece could feel a little flat and "laid out" without some crossing over. I have further enhanced this with the highlights which creates leaves with a bumpy and textured face. The leaf on the left in the image below seems to have a deep crease and does feel quite shaped. I'm happy :)

At this stage I am spending about 3/4 of an hour on each leaf !! So you can get some idea of the time this will take even before the work begins on the actual birds. Today I have done about 7 leaves and I need to break from it. Doesn't seem much but its starting to take shape

Well today's work (Monday 26th nov) carried on working down the foliage. Apart from one odd leaf on the left the main part today was the second sub branch across the middle. This I decided need some character and the leaves needed some interesting features. Because this is the central area and the eye would move across it from bird to bird. So I decided to mix the 3 main leaves with one of each type, golden, heavy aged with green and deeper reddy brown.

The branch picks up some yellow gold and pinky red on the highlights to add warmth and depth against the shadow. Also I wanted to add another cross over and highlighted this with a strong shadow across the leaf from the vine. It took all day to effectively do a branch and half a dozen leaves! I'm turning into a pre-Raphaelite :)

Although the two sub branches are consistent its not the look I planned but it works. Somehow I have to carry that into the main branch and I have no idea how at present!

this mornings work (Tues 27th nov) finally finished the leaves and vine. It took 4 hours to do 4 leaves and 2 strands of vine! But im really happy how they look. I added the shadow of the vine onto the main branch too. The reason I did this is to help me feel the curve when I get to that part and also I hope it will show through and give some depth. By keeping the vine against, and then away, from the branch creates a nice feel. All of the leaves are now done and there is one more sub branch to do before the main branch. I am dreading the main branch because I have no idea how it will look or how to go about it. The sub branches drifted away from what I was aiming for and now the main one has to work with them.

I decided to plunge in and go for the branch. I picked about tidying other bits, avoiding it! In the end I just went for it. I knew I had to use the same colour range for the main branch to avoid it looking totally different. But I did introduce further reddy browns. Using a VERY light central wash of naples yellow I then added mid range light reds along the area between the light and dark. Finally adding the dark along the edges, this was made up of ultrmarine and the reds and browns. Merging then pulling out as it dried. In real life it actually feels very good. It holds the colours of the leafs, which worried me, but actually it feels right when in front of you. Tomorrow I can now carry on down the other side of the bird and finish the branch

Oh finally got the branch done! Took all day of course :) I worked in sections using the crossing the vine as the section break. Since I heavily wet the section and then put a range of colours in, I cannot work in a large area per time. It would dry before I could work it. So I even added a further crossing vine lower down than the original plan. Partly for this breaking the sections but also I felt it needed something lower too. The colours have got richer and deeper nearer the bottom. This helps the feeling of the branch being closer at the bottom adding depth. I now feel the whole thing is going to work VERY well and be the strongest piece I have ever done. I'm confident on the birds since I know them well now. So tomorrow its time for the first bird! Usually I'm starting to bet bored at this stage BUT this time I'm still excited and keen to see it develop.

Well the first bird work..... I start around the head area. Don't know why, just seems the right thing to do! Laying ultramarine down as a base for the dark/black and then crimson into the dark for the base colours. Later some orangey red will overlay the crimson and a flatter dark will overlay the marine. Goldfinches are a special bird. They have some feathers that work in a similar way to those of a kingfisher and to an extent, a pheasant. Its to do with light refraction and colours. Basically there is no way to paint what is actually there, only simulate the effects they give off. The Golden/brown/yellow colours are mixed specially to achieve this effect. Below you see the base of the whole bird. It just requires some smoothing and blending which I do wet into dry afterwards. Then the highest highlights then the final shadows. Normally I dont use white. But I do mix a little into burnt umber and rose madder to make the foot tones. Sometimes a fleck on the highest feathers too. To create shape and depth its not always the sun facing area that is lightest, often its the angle across that reflection. Like the back of the head is actually dark although its facing the light. The light reflects from the edges of the feathers....ie right a little of the left dark edge. This gives more shape and depth. This sort of work is about subtle changes and slight variations in colour and shadow. See how the highlight hairs on the dark band graduate from dark to light then dark again, making it feel rounded. Your eye perceives a curve, illusion achieved :)

You can see below I have smoothed out the first bird and made it more subtle. Its still highly detailed but just more real. It actually allows it to feel more shiny in the right places too.

Then moving on to the second bird, again I start with the head. And then you can see it finished. It took all day to do this one bird. But its coming along well now.

Only one more to do tomorrow. Then try to get some proper photos!

Finally onto the last bird. The second one was better than the first so im hoping the last one will end up even better. Because the effect of the branch being nearer at the bottom is now strong, I think the lower bird being the most detailed will work as well.

You can see how I work through the bird and areas I do first. I decided that this bird should have the eye catching the light across the eye shape. Making a more pronounced eye and giving some shape. Also since the birds head is turned then the eye appears more set back.

So its finished !!   Wow  Seems to have taken ages, but I did enjoy it all. Funny really, its always an anti climax when I finish but also a sense of achievement. I have certainly improved and this is my finest work to date I would think. Both technically and also as a piece of art. Possibly I have grown to a style that now compares to some of the best "panel" bird artists. Still learning but I feel its almost coming together now. Any comments gratefully received.

The images below are of the final piece. Its 22" square, ready for mounting and framing.