In The Studio: 17 Paintings 17 Days : “Owl’s Head”

This painting is a pretty bold and energetic painting of rocks, cliffs and water, with a strong application of paint.  Although it is not cutting any new compositional ground for me it definitely was fun to paint and the scrapes on the rocks and rhythmic and varied brushwork creates a pretty interesting handling of the subject.  I used a palette of Ultramarine and Cobalt Blue, with Burnt Sienna and Alizirin Crimson.  The green was a combination of Thalo lime Green, Olive Green and Cobalt Blue.  Paint the sky and water with about the same mixes so they have a relationship to one another.  Try to leave some nicely shaped white sections.  This will give you something to work against during the finish of the painting.Paint in the background cliff with a flat brush charged with a variety of mixtures of Burnt and Raw Sienna Cobalt Violet and Ultramarine Blue.  Try to get nice edges at the top and bottom of the cliff this will interlock the shape with the sky and water.Paint in the foreground rocks really working on bold and expressive marks.  This piece of the painting is the entry point to the composition and has to set up the cliffs.  Paint in some brushwork for the water and add some really nice trees with openings for the sky and you are finished.