My Newest Painting

This piece has been in my mind to paint for awhile. I just needed to find the right time! It spilled out over the last couple of days. Although I used a photo, I decided to do a value sketch to figure out the shape of the bird and some of the water ripples and where to crop.

You can see my crop and the shadow and light divisions on the bird in the sketch.

In the painting below,  I tried to juxtapose warm and cool colors. If I didn't change the color value too much but wanted to show a different shape, I changed color temperature. Some of the water is similar in value but because of the warm and cool shapes next to each other, the shapes show up. I also referred to the Munsell Color Wheel for ideas of which colors to use as highlights. This color wheel is a little different from the traditional 12 hue color wheel. Using descriptive brushwork, warm and cool color oppositions and differing color and value shapes, this piece has a lot of energy!

Swan Moment • 6" x 6" • View on Daily Paintworks