The top photo was taken in my studio and shows how to create some more depth into the painting by adding a kelp bed in the foreground water. Acrylics are somewhat transparent so the kelp strands had to be painted over many times to make them stand out. Also I increased the warmth of the entire scene by painting several glazes of orange over it all. The next step was placing the orca pod into an interesting design. I did this very carefully using the many sketches I had done of them. Many of these sketches had been done from videos I had taken but a few were actually done on the spot - an often frustrating experience but good practice. After I placed the whales where I thought they would be most effective I touched up highlights on everything; the boats, the shoreline, the kelp, the rocks and tree, just to give it a bit more contrast and punch. The second image is the final one and it is easy to see how much more work was done on it. The joy of working with acrylics is that they can be completely altered in their final stages if so desired. But this is also their curse. When to quit?
No comments:
Post a Comment