bird is the dead

Back to the piece I have been developing before the life drawing intensive I completed.

The main focal point of this piece is the skull head on the birds body. I used raw umber, for the outline and shadow elements. I blended titanium white to create shadow. Raw umber goes a bit grey when mixed with white so it is a perfect candidate for bone. I brought in a bit of the red as reflected light and added highlights with some yellow ochre mixed in.

The previous layer of paint is dry so I sanded it down with 80 and 120 grit sandpaper. It gives it a nice worn out feel and allows the under painting to show thru a bit for the next stage.

After the skull had been painted in I painted in the brightly coloured feathers and added some textute to the image.

I then filled in the background making it a very dark burnt umber to pop off the colours.

I drew in a branch for my "angel of death" to perch by scraping away to the under painting and brought in some white to set off the space with some light areas.

The paint is wet and shiny and hard to photograph straight on. I'll let it dry and revisit the piece on my next opportunity to work in the studio.