Elina's Corner (1 Viewer)

EliS · Dec 3, 2008

I think it's time to call it finished... Unless someone can come up with something that could be done (I cannot move the eye though I would love to).

I edited the forehead and the beak, and worked some more on the icy grass - adding a hint of warm hues among the whites and blues in an attempt to make the goose look like it belongs to its surroundings. I think it worked.

The eyes aren't quite right yet, and that's one of the most intriquing features of the LWfG. Their eyes are almost like a deer's! Conclusion: I need to learn to do 3D eyes that look "right"! Though perhaps some other night...

EDIT: Anyone ever heard of fiddling?

I guess that's what I've been doing. I got some insightful feedback from a friend of mine and decided to give it a go - getting rid of "the lines" and trying to match the beak and the forehead with the rest of the bird (my friend thought they didn't seem to match). I think I prefer this new version to the old one. I'm posting it here for comparison.

What I've learned is that there's still a lot to be learned in drawing and painting LWf Geese. This has been a fun process and I think I've learned enormously. I think it's high time to leave this one alone. There's bound to come the moment when I ruin it beyond repair, if I keep on going.

Too bad I need to finish my seminar work in a week - otherwise I would spend a couple of days more painting. I'd forgotten how much fun it can be to work on a single painting for a couple of days, really getting into it and taking the time to make the painting work.

Elina

timwootton · Dec 3, 2008

It's a stunning portrait Elina - take a bow!

Woody · Dec 3, 2008

Love that ice rimed grass, and the portrait too of course.

Eyes are the tricky bit, think of them as hubcaps and remember that the highlight is not always a white spot, it's a reflection of the landscape so, on a dull day, the sky will reflect across the whole of the top of the eye. Also the light will bounce back slightly from the inner surface of the eyeball so a slight highlight will appear in the bottom of the eye opposite where the main highlight is. I love painting eyes!

Mike

EliS · Dec 4, 2008

I added another picture to my previous post so that it can be easily compared to the previous version of the LWfG. I ended up working on it some more, taking it to a more realistic direction (I think). Hopefully I'm now ready to let it go. Though the grass might need some working on still...

Mike, I'm sure eyes shall be a lot of fun - as soon as I get them figured out. At the moment I'm having a bit of a struggle learning to mix colors and then making the colors do what I want them to do. Or rather, I'm figuring out, what the colors do when I apply them. So I should spend a day doing eyes to figure out the best way to handle paint for eyes. And inspect carefully eyes others have painted.

And it's way beyond time to go to sleep for me.

Elina

ARTHUR BISHOP · Dec 4, 2008

Lovely pic. Elina they do have super little head

EliS · Feb 18, 2009

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted here. We'll, I'm back and hopefully it won't be this long before the next post (no posts usually means I haven't accomplished that much regarding sketching/painting/drawing).

This week I worked through a comission including an interesting bird sighting in Finland - a wolf on the same field with some Lesser white-fronted geese. The event was videoscoped, but the wolf and the lessers didn't fit in the same field of view. Therefore the one who had seen the event asked me to make a painting for a report about lessers.

So here's the painting, mostly watercolor, some white gouache used for finishing touches and correcting some mistakes. The real painting has a bit more space on the left and on top, but was framed like this for the report.

I used the videoscoped material to do the painting. Working from a video is almost as good as real birds/animals (though real animals don't have that splendid "pause" -button :-O). Though I still prefer the real thing...

The great thing is that making the painting made me feel as if I'd actually seen the wolf (which would have be a huge dream come true).

Oh, am I correct that when a watercolor painting is framed, the glass in front of the painting should NOT touch the painting? Any other tips on framing a watercolor painting? I tried to search for a thread on framing paintings I thought I'd seen, but so far couldn't find it...

Elina

timwootton · Feb 18, 2009

Great work Elina - I can imagine the sensation of seeing this tremendous spectacle. You've captured the essence of the encounter perfectly - well done.
Yes - watercolour ought not to touch the glass - usually there would be a mount around the painting which automatically acts as a spacer twixt painting & glass.

jomo · Feb 19, 2009

Gorgeous, Elina, and welcome back (lucky bub, your customer -- a wild canid I may never see in the flesh, even here in the Great White North!)

Hmm, didn't know that about framing watercolours. Thanks for the tip!

Woody · Feb 19, 2009

Nice work Elina, good to have you back. Love the way the wolf is attentive to the possibilities but he knows there's no real chance that he could actually catch one!

Tim's advice is, naturally, correct regarding watercolours and framing, infact, I'd always go for a double mount with acid free board, just because a double mount looks so good.

Mike

nickderry · Feb 19, 2009

Glad to have you back and leaping up a notch in this stunning piece - excellent work.

EliS · Feb 26, 2009

Thanks all, it's good to be back, I've spent far too little time painting and sketching lately.

Woody, I like your interpretation of the situation and you've probably nailed it. I was talking with the one who saw the wolf. He thought it had been serious about chasing the geese, while I thought it was just goofing around and chasing the geese off for fun. What you've said seems to sum it up - it knows there's no real chance, but still...

I have a nice encounter with a Great gray owl to tackle... Maybe writing it down here makes me actually do something about it (it's a magnificent bird - to such an extent I'm intimitated by the mere thought of trying to draw or paint this owl).

And thanks for the framing tips!

Elina

EliS · Mar 18, 2009

The Great Gray

"Oh stop looking so efficient!" That's what my (tired and sleepy) friend said one evening, when I started drawing... I finally got around making some late sketches of the Great gray. Took me a while since owls are somewhat intimidating...to draw (they are so...round. Round head, round eyes, at times round body, no corners at all).

Attach owls, go to sleep...

Elina

nickderry · Mar 19, 2009

Just love the expression on this wise old owl.

EliS · Apr 1, 2009

Another crazy project. I'm working on my Pro Gradu Thesis at the moment and decided I'd illustrate it to further emphasize my point (subject: translating species names of North American animals from English to Finnish). My instructors said, it's a great idea.

Which means I have to learn to draw some North American wildlife. Wapiti, blue jay, Steller's jay, gray jay, great horned owl... What I'm going to try to illustrate is how "ridiculous" some incorrect translations actually are. Like translating a merganser to a greylag goose (I'm still confused at how the translator managed to do that!). To a birder it's quite clear those two are totally different. But to non-birders a picture should make things a whole lot clearer.

Plus I'll have loads of fun drawing all these animals!

Tonight was dedicated to learning the wapiti and the blue jay.

Elina

nickderry · Apr 1, 2009

lovely drawings, so that's what a wapiti looks like, and an interesting topic for a thesis - before you get too hard on the translators, remember that anser anser is greylag goose, and merganser comes from that -no idea why though! I get confused here in france, white wagtail is called grey wagtail and grey wagtail become stream wagtail.

timwootton · Apr 2, 2009

Smashing drawings Elina and good luck with the thesis.
Nick, I think I prefer 'stream wagtail' to 'grey' actually. Says much more about the bird (whose distinctive colouration is probably yellow, anyway) and I suppose the 'whites' are grey. Never thought I'd prefer French !!! Just as long as they don't call divers loons.

nickderry · Apr 2, 2009

No we call them 'plongeon' which comes from 'plonger' - 'to dive'. No loons here!

Red-throated is called the Catamaran Diver though!

Woody · Apr 2, 2009

Lovely stuff Elina, good to see that you're still finding some drawing time.

Mike

jomo · Apr 3, 2009

timwootton said:
Just as long as they don't call divers loons.

We'll stop using terms like 'loon' when you folk drop terms like 'buzzard'!

nickderry · Apr 3, 2009

and when you stop using hawk for everything ;-)

seriously it is confusing, I was in the park having a few beers the other week with a good number of Americans, and we saw buzzards (buteo) flying over, I was told that they sure don't look like any buzzard I seen y'all. To make it even more confusing 'busard' is a harrier in French, whereas buzzard (hawk if you insist ;-) ) is buse. etc etc

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