Sunset on Fraser

Well, I've nearly finished my painting
I haven't had the opportunity to do many ocean scenes so this was a big learning experience. This photo doesn't really do it justice, I haven't quite finished the water.
I learned that sometimes a small flat brush is better for fine lines than a fine round and that pretty much how I did the water.
I also learned there's more than one reason to use liquin. In this painting, I used it to glaze a blue gray over the red and so the red shone through. There are discussions on whether we need more than the single bird that is on the photo, I chose the photo because it's serene and represents a quiet moment so I don't feel the need to make it more interesting, anyway if you want to see the lessons on Barb's Blog, here's the shortcut
Fraser Island Sunset

Finished my first portrait

I've finished my first portrait, a big thanks to Barb helping refine a few things to make this the best it could be, I am going to go straight to a new portrait, I have found a photo of my grandparents. It's colourised as was the era, I hope I can do it justice

Hooter

Well, I'm about half way with my owl painting. I was being good, doing exactly as instructed until it came time to put in the darker spots. Got all artistic then promptly freaked out. I painted all the dark spots in like the photo, trouble is it looked like a chess board! So I've now painted back over many of the spots with a muddy orange so when I paint over the lighter colours I won't have a whole bunch of dark patches that need 4 coats of paint to cover.... and it won't look too much like a chess board.
I also had a problem with the feather on the beak because instead of doing the beak and and gently easing the colour back to grey, I just painted about the right amount of black beak and left the rest white, so don't do that!  I've now gone over it twice, I'm hoping by the time I paint the lightest feathers the line I created will no longer be visible, barb is up to lesson 5, here's her link
http://howtooilpaint-barbn.blogspot.com.au/

Home away from home

Eilean Doran Castle

I love this painting, Castle are my favourite memories when we visited the UK, unlike others, I never tired of visiting them, or going through them and now, it seems, painting them

My first real attempt at a portrait, working with Barb, I have started on the background which I've decided to do in an impresionistic style using bronzes and purple blacks. I've just started working on the hat, needs fine tuning, has to look like the words KEV BACKER are stamped on it, might be trickier than I thought, I guess we'll see.

A quaint little camping ground on the other side of the lake, Glenn took this photo of a humble old boat shed with a spectacular view of Eileen Dooran Castle