Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Greater Scaup Painting

A few posts down, there is a photo of hundreds of scaup on the Columbia River in the Lewis and Clark National Wildlife Refuge. That day on the river was spectacular and I wanted to do a painting that captured a memorable morning. Waves of greater scaup would emerge from the fog and land just outside the decoys. After landing they would audibly mill around on the water before diving for their food. This painting depicts a flock of several species of ducks that are being joined by greater scaup. To start with, a gray background is painted in then the birds are sketched onto the board and each individual duck gets started.
More ducks have been added both in the water and coming in...

Alot has happened here.... Value has been added to the background and water; more ducks have been added and some females have been turned into males.

More species have been added as has fog. The species in the painting are three canvasbacks, one common goldeneye, one bufflehead, and lots of greater scaup (26, I think). If you look at the image above and the one below, you can see that one of the scaup has been changed into a goldeneye. The bird looked to small for the rest, so to add a bit of variety and interest, I made the duck larger and turned it into a goldeneye. Stay tuned to see the painting finished...

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