For once I wanted to do something else than landscapes. I had a photograph of a peacock I took years ago and I've always been attracted to the beautiful turquoise and golden feathers contrasting with the dark green plumage. I did this painting in once session:
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| Peacock 10"x8" oil on board |
My trick to make the light touches stand out was to paint first my background in a dark brown colour, so everything you paint over that will look so much lighter than if you paint on a light background. I tried not to overdo it and only suggested the feathers and accentuated the ones in the light areas.
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| Detail |
The original reference photograph had been on the wall of my studio for years as a source of inspiration and I suddenly decided to give it a try:
I think this is the type of painting that is worth looking at in a frame to contain all the things going on:
I really enjoyed painting this one and might be tempted to try an other peacock painting now.
