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Alan Dalton-Birdart from the Basement (1 Viewer)

Beginnings of a couple of canvases here, both of Hawk Owl, after an amazing day yesterday with one of these northern gems. The bird made a big impression and I intend on three different pieces, hopefully, giving three different perspectives. Here's the first one, sketched and blocked in. I'm out of white acrylic paint after this, an oversight which has stopped work for today...

On Canvas, 80cmx60cm.
 

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The second is a bigger canvas of 120cmx80cm

This time the hope is to portray a Hawk Owl ghosting through its birch forest habitat with a vole in its talons. From a little comp sketch done on the train on my return trip home...
Just sketched it directly onto the canvas with felt tip pen in order to get it down whilst still fresh in my mind...
Back tomorrow for a marathon painting session..
 

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Just before I left I picked up a Masonite Panel and quickly sketched this, then banged on a little wash. Lashings of cerulean blue, white and cadium yellow followed and 30 minutes later ended up with this, also 80cmx60cm, a piece that really came out of nowhere. Think I will keep this on quite fresh and paint it quickly, maybe at the end of my sessions when I have loosened up...
Lots to work on in the coming days..
 

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Just before I left I picked up a Masonite Panel and quickly sketched this, then banged on a little wash. Lashings of cerulean blue, white and cadium yellow followed and 30 minutes later ended up with this, also 80cmx60cm, a piece that really came out of nowhere. Think I will keep this on quite fresh and paint it quickly, maybe at the end of my sessions when I have loosened up...
Lots to work on in the coming days..

great stuff with the seeing and doing: sounds like serious endeavours- have you had the good sense to keep computah out of reach whilst painting? I'm finding that as a breaker of concentration it's pretty much the worst
 
great stuff with the seeing and doing: sounds like serious endeavours- have you had the good sense to keep computah out of reach whilst painting? I'm finding that as a breaker of concentration it's pretty much the worst

Hi Ed,

My macbook has died due to Linda and a large glass of water just before Christmas! Managed to recover the hard drive in order to save my photos, though not yet had the spare cash to get a replacement. Currently browsing the net through my still functioning wireless broadband by iPhone, also the PC at work, when I'm there. Have found since I lost the use of a home computer I seem to have a lot more time on my hands.
My only distractions are the said phone, when it rings, or a box of malboro lights, which I really should pour more water on...;)
 
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Great to see so many started all at once Alan. With no computer distractions I'd guess that you'll get three good ones before you know it. Hard to say which I like best at the moment but there is something about that thirid one.
 
They all three looks like becoming great paintings, I hope you keep us up to date with the progress! The hawk owl is such a stunning bird!
 
Here's the progress so far on one of the Hawk Owl portraits. The other is not working so well as I got the proportions wrong on the bird, which has left me unhappy with working on it. Will let it sit and mull it over..
This one is going better though, though still a fair way to go...
 

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Here's the other, very roughly blocked in and just beginning to take shape. Getting depth in this will be important I think. There will be a lot of work in this big canvas, may take some time I think..
Uploading by iPhone, which only allows one attachment per post for some reason, hence the lone images. Using iPhone camera too, indoors, so images are not great, my apologies.
 

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Alan - love the hawk owls...if it means more works like these then getting the studio was a great thing!! Congrats...
 
A productive full day in the studio today, having resisted the temptation to look for a Glaucous Gull at my gull patch here in the city. It been freezing here of late and tempatures have dipped below minus twenty, though today was only -12's!
Finally got the first of the Hawk Owl pieces complete, this one on masonite panel, 80cmx60cm. Recently aqquired some glaze medium, I must say, I do like the depth it gives the colour. Brought the DSLR along today, so images are better than recent iPhone snaps, though still taken under artificial light. This one really glows nicely thanks to the glazes...
 

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Other progress here...lots done today.

A very large canvas of a Hawk Owl gliding through birchwood with prey is coming along slowly, I am building up glazes in the background right now. This piece will take quite some time to complete, due to it's size, a metre along the longest side...
Here is the earlier posted Yellowhammer in song, which I managed to crack today, after some thought. A small square canvas this one, not terribly far from completion, with the background now to my satisfaction, which was what was causing the hold up...
Also the badly proportioned Hawk Owl was painted over, has now become a Pygmy Owl, in a reworking of a painting done earlier in the year which I wasn't happy with. The proportions are better on this version I think, though the cloudy grey background may need reassesment...
Comment welcome on any of these works in progress, as always...
 

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This bird is a very rare (winter only) visitor to the northeastern most part of our state - I would love to see one, but your painting certainly is a nice substitute!
 
A full day in the studio today, finally. Been working a lot lately, which never thrills me, been itching to get back to painting..

Wasn't happy with the Pygmy Owl background, so spent time on that today, glazing in some colour. Saw this bird after dusk last March and decided it deserved to be portrayed as I recall it, in partial darkness..
 

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