Thursday, July 21, 2011

WIP (what's this?)

A Work In Progress (WIP)...there's always one on my drafting table.  I've been working on this piece for about two weeks.  I went to Seattle last month to visit my kids and grandkids.  We went to a lovely Japanese garden on a cloudy morning.  The boys loved running around and looking at the Koi fish.  I took a lot of photos, hoping to capture rippling water and after I looked through them on my computer, I found this intriguing picture.  I'm not sure what kind of duck it is, but that purple blue color caught my eye!  I moved the fish a bit closer in my final drawing, then transferred it to Stonehenge paper.  I really enjoyed layering these tones, especially capturing the fish under the water.  I like to work with complementary colors, so I put more blue around the orange fish.  Now it pops and becomes the focal point.  I've just got a bit of the lillies left to do...I'll show you the finished piece next post!


5 comments:

  1. wow! it is beautiful Susie!! I can't wait to see it in person. (i hope I will get to...)

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  2. This is coming along very nicely, Susie! I don't have the patience to work in colored pencil at this size, but I sure enjoy seeing the work of others who do :). I really like how you're incorporating more color into your painting than what shows in the ref. photo.

    BTW, that's a female mallard duck. Not as flashy as the boys, but I love that splash of brilliant dark blue in her feathers.

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  3. Sonya, thanks so much for your comments. I was wondering about that duck, thought it might be a Mallard, but I wasn't sure.

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