Working on the Owl Painting

This morning, since it’s dreary outside, I decided to take some time to work on the owl painting. But I found that I didn’t have one of the colors I wanted.

Before I can get started

So, first I had to make some paint.

This image shows the pile of pigment from a greenish siltstone like the one in the photo. The color it makes varies from stone to stone, but when I’m lucky, it makes a sage/grayish/yellowish green that’s really nice for background hills especially for scenes set in fall or winter, or an underbody color for other seasons.

This time the color is more on the yellow side, but it still worked for my intended purpose and isn’t the same shade as the other yellow I have.

This will take a while

I’m working in thin layers for this painting (as I did on the shed), so it’s going to take a while to reach the finish line. Every layer has to dry before I can add more.

So not a whole lot gets done in each session.

1) where it started out

2) where I left it today

What’s next for the owl painting

I won’t begin on the trees, fence, or owl until I get the sky and background finished. But already I like the depth the distant hill gives to the scene. I’m happy with today’s progress.

It’s been a while since I had a chance to do anything at all to it, so even a little bit makes me feel better.

This morning’s paint only will help for a little while because I didn’t make much. Plus, I used the rough pigment and I prefer to use the washed. So, that’s what I’m going to do after finishing up this post.

Washing a pigment takes a bit of time. The actual ‘washing’ part is quick, but the settling and drying can take up to a week or so. And that’s probably about how long it’ll be before I can paint again anyway.

Earlier Posts about this Painting

• Barred Owl Painting (the official page of updates)
• Varnishing the Old Shed & Update on Barred Owl painting
• Percolating a Painting