Elina's Corner (1 Viewer)

[nickderry]

incredibly strong composition, this is quite, quite special.

 

[jomo]

Very bold! I rather like the monochrome as it is, although a little colour added would work too, as long as it doesn't warm it up too much. Looking forward to the end result!

 

[Woody]

Yep, beautifully conceived composition.

Mike

 

[timwootton]

very striking! There's a Robert Bateman painting which this recalls - but I won't post it, as it may influence the way your own unique composition is headed. Keep at it - great idea.

 

[EliS]

I got myself a small collection of gouache tubes and have been having lots of fun today. I think I found my painting medium.

Stage 2 of the painting. It does need color (but definitely not too much). So I need to consider the species of the bird very carefully. Lucky I'm working with gouache now, I can alter the shape of the bird if needed.

Robin? Gray flycatcher seems a bit too gray, but the shape would be almost right already. ...

Oh well... As Scarlett O'Hara would say: "I won't think about it today. I'll think about it tomorrow." Tired. Need sleep. Good night.

Elina

P.s. It's really good to see the picture in a different size than the original. I keep on spotting things I want to change. Tomorrow, tomorrow...

 

[timwootton]

I'd love to add a comment about this pic, but I'm just waiting to see how you resolve the image.
Good luck - it's looking really excellent.

 

[Andrew H]

Being and 'Old Black & white' Photogrpher, I very much like it as it is in Mono, maybe a hint of colour in the bird alone, but leave the rest as it is, maybe giving notion to the idea of the dead forest.........:t:

 

[ARTHUR BISHOP]

I think we are all waiting to see which way you go Elina. Love it so far.

 

[EliS]

Here it is: "Homecoming" (gouache on cardboard)

Bonus: transformation of the Wood Pipit.

I think it's finished now. Maybe. Comments/suggestions welcome.

Elina

P.s. This was fun!

 

[nickderry]

a really interesting piece that stirs a lot of emotion, the monochrome works very well and you've got some great contrasting tones, textures and patterns in here. Great stuff.

 

[timwootton]

Brilliant.

 

[Woody]

Very striking indeed!

Mike

 

[ed keeble]

Very striking indeed!

Mike

This thread is turning into one to watch- the phalaropes were great (especially the wind blowing up the tips of the tertials) and now this one.

 

[EliS]

After finishing "Homecoming" (took 3 days and a huge amount of movies based on Jane Austen's novels) I've been enjoying just doing some scetches. So relaxing, not having to worry about every single line and move and spot and whatnot. (Don't get me wrong, I loved the painting process and finding my way through the painting, but it did make me understand and appreciate the freedom of scetching in a new way. I've never spent so much time with one painting.)

On Sunday I went to see a pair of Mute swans that had decided to spend some time near where I live (not that common around here, so they were quite special). For the most part gulls and muskrats made a more interesting scetching target than the swans (there's only so many ways you can draw a white body of a swan floating on the water with the neck underwater). Fortunately just at the end the other one of the swans decided to preen a bit, and I hurried to get my clipboard and papers out.

Yesterday evening - I went to see a Rose-colored starling, and missed the bird with 1 meter and 5 seconds. The problem was that I couldn't stay long, and the bird might have still been there, but there was no way to move around at that spot, since it was just on the edge of a breeding ground of some very rare bird species.

Thus, this morning, woke up around 5, still feeling a bit blue, and decided to take a walk with my bins and clipboard. Walking on the wet road, I heard a high pitched chatter from the ground. Looked down - a baby fieldfare, just out of nest, looking all fluffy and scruffy and comically sweet, hopping around and chattering. After that I was all smiles (you just can't be blue when you've just met such a little scruffball).

And in the evening, went birding with a friend. Our surprise was great, when at the seashore, from the shoremost, bushes flew out a cuckoo.

So far I've been able to keep up with my "a paper or two of scetches a day keeps the scetcher awake" -system. We'll see, what scetchable I'll encounter tomorrow.

Elina

P.s. I've done a lot more scetching the past few days than these, but these are the presentable ones...

 

[timwootton]

Very presentable indeed - full of the humour of the moment and a very lovely cuckoo drawing.
Very, very good.

 

[nickderry]

some wonderful encounters here, and I agree with Tim that they convey the humour of the moment, getting the feel and character of an encounter across is very hard, and you're a natural, great stuff.

PS, just to let you know, it's sketching and not scetching, I'm sure you won't mind me pointing it out, all the mistakes I still make in French are downright hilarious, and I'm supposed to have a degree in the language!

 

[ARTHUR BISHOP]

Love the sketches espec. the feildfare chick

 

[jomo]

Elina! 'Homecoming' is a brilliant piece, wonderfully evocative. The monochrome is very effective, as are the textures and the weaving branches against the flatness of the stumps. Bravo!

 

[Woody]

Very characterful drawings there Elina. And to me, here in the UK, the very idea of a fieldfare chick is enthralling indeed!

Mike

 

[EliS]

Thanks all for the comments. |=)|

Nick, thank you for pointing that out!!! Why didn't anyone say anything before?? And considering how many times I've read that word around here... |:S| (Not to mention that I'm supposed to be an English major...) ||

Inspired by the little tern I observed and sketched (with a K) through a friends scope yesterday, I did some painting today. Gouache on cardboard.

By the way: has anyone else used gouache? I'd be just curious to know how it compares to acrylic. I'm liking gouache a lot, but at times find myself wondering if acrylic would be even better, since I seem to be using gouache most of the time straight out of the tube (though when detail comes in, I have to thin it to be able to get the finest lines smooth). Though if acrylic is more fluid (as I assume it is...?), then I wouldn't be able to do what I did in Homecoming (the "fuzzy light" done with a dry brush + gouache straight from the tube). Or maybe I could. Humm...

Elina

Edit: Uh, there's something wrong with the wing, I'm sure of it. Oh well, need to observe preening terns more to see how the feathers on the wing really go when the wing is slightly open like that.