365 Paintings in 365 Days #77

Red Robin Trilogy 1a

The learning points on these three were basically the same

1. How to paint peeling bark. I really struggled with this one, because there was actually a LOT of detail in that bark and I did not want to take away the focus of the Robin. So I blended it quiet a bit. Also, on this particular one, I added the little sticks, it just seemed to need it to be convincing that is was not a rock...it was hard to see what it was to me.

2. photo images. I worked from photos for these and then researched on line for more images and made them a little bit different. We also have a lot of these in our yard right now, so a lot of references. But they started with a photo.

3. Background. I wanted to add some color to the background. I put color where I thought it looked best...lighter up higher and around the bird and then blended.

On each one I blended the background in the direction of the bird...around this one, angled on 78, and radiating out on 79 to give more movement.