Lilac Crested (or Breasted) Roller - Work In Progress, Painting

mariekedestip (49)in #travel • 7 years ago

So nice to welcome you here, fellow Steemian!

To stay in the ambiance of my previous post about a painting of a Tanzanian bird, I'd like to continue with another tropical painting. The story of this colourful bird continues after its finishing, because I participated with a contest. I was 24 or 25 when I finished it, and the national magazine Vogels (Birds) published a competition for young artists (25 years old or younger) who could participate. The theme was Het Bevlogen Oog, which means something like The Bright or Knowledgeable Eye, though 'bevlogen' has also an association with flying, feathers. I thought: why not? Who knows, maybe I'll hear something, maybe not.

After a few weeks I received an email, where I heard I was included in the final 25 participants! I couldn't dream of it, belonging to any kind of finals. I never was competitionminded, so this was a real surprise. And the surprise was even greater when I got an invitation for the final 10! The tension was growing, and seeing all these beautiful paintings at the competition was a real treat. Unfortunately I wasn't one of the winners, but it was truly an awesome experience.

Here you see me, next to my painting of the Lilac Crested Roller at the exhibition of the contest.

My messy pallette, when finishing this painting:

The painting itself was also very satisfying to make. It went easy this time, and it was no effort keeping the layers thin. I love it when the structure of the canvas keeps visible. Usually I start sketching with lines in the paint I work with, this time I started with a lightblue backgroundcolour, and added pieces of the bird, in the targetcolour. It makes it less accurate, so not advisable ;)

Afterwards I start layering piece by piece, and usually I add a primitive eye in one of the first phases. That way I see straight away if the painting is going to 'work'.

Getting finished, I have to paint feather by feather, in a hair-like structure. Finishing touches on the branch, the shimmers on the beak and eyes, and the dinosaurish paws. Birds are so awesome <3.