Ivory Rooster - Final

© Ellen Blonder

I finally finished adding blades of grass underfoot. Also, I repositioned the uppermost chick because I didn't like the head-on symmetry of it. I hope you can appreciate what a magnificent guy this rooster is, and sense the mutual protectiveness between him and the hen. Time to give the size 0 brush a rest.

Ivory Rooster 6

© Ellen Blonder

One of these days, I may learn to paint details under overlapping foliage first, but I'm usually too impatient to see larger color masses first. I've added details to the purple leaves behind the hen, and still have to add elements to the foreground.

Ivory Rooster 5

© Ellen Blonder

© Ellen Blonder

I packed the unfinished painting back to the mainland, saying good-bye to the rooster and hen that I saw nearly every day. I doubt they will still be there next year. All the chicks have grown remarkably during my two months in Kauai. Catch as catch can, I've done most of the rooster and begun on the surrounding foliage.

Ivory Rooster 4

© Ellen Blonder

Now that the hen is mostly done, I've added details to the chicks and started on the rooster. I'm liking how his tail feathers help frame the hen's head. 

Ivory Rooster 3

© Ellen Blonder

© Ellen Blonder

Since the hen is a big brown mass, I thought I'd better paint her in first. She looks a bit drab compared with the rooster, but her feathers are quietly beautiful.

Ivory Rooster 2

© Ellen Blonder

I'm resisting the urge to add flowers, so that the red in the rooster's and hen's faces will be the brightest spots. Today, I added some thin acrylic washes to help me see the color masses.

Ivory Rooster 1

© Ellen Blonder

A handsome couple on the bike path in Kauai has caught my eye. The rooster is all ivory and black, with no copper feathers. He's always accompanied by his hen. I'm going to take license to add some chicks, because this year, I have never seen so many of them along my walks.

I've started a sketch on a 16 x 20-inch canvas board.

Windblown Rooster - Final

© Ellen Blonder

I've added details to the plants and thrown some leaves to the wind. Finished.

Windblown Rooster 4

© Ellen Blonder

The chest and wing feathers are filled in now. Time to get back to the plants.

Windblown Rooster 3

© Ellen Blonder

© Ellen Blonder

Over the last week, I've been adding color to the plants, then filling in the rooster's tail.

Windblown Rooster 2

© Ellen Blonder

I wanted to build up from the background first, but I always seem to want to paint the rooster's face early on. 

Windblown Rooster 1

© Ellen Blonder

While I was waiting in a parking lot in Lihue, this rooster wandered by my car window. The wind picked up and fluffed out his neck feathers. I've been wanting to paint him ever since. Here's the sketch on a 16 x 20 canvas board.

Cycad Painting - Final

© Ellen Blonder

I think this is done. I added some red leaves behind the bromeliad, darkened, then lightened the sky a bit, spending hours touching it up behind the cycad and refining the cycad leaves afterward. I've also darkened the underside and beard of the goat, added contrast in the horns and fixed its face so those weird far-apart eyes read better. 

In retrospect, this was a crazy way to paint, without even a foggy idea of where I was headed, finishing out the key elements and then having to paint around them. What's funny is that in the end, it doesn't look so different from my other paintings that are more planned ahead. I don't know how others manage to have a layout all planned out ahead. I needed time out to let this sit between painting sessions so I could figure out what else it required.

Cycad Painting 8

© Ellen Blonder

This is both the fun and tedious part, adding details with the finest brushes. There are now additional goats in the background, and patterns on the bromeliad leaves. I've also added strappy leaves behind and under the bromeliad and blades of grass in the foreground. The goat still feels a bit pasted in, though. While he looked very dark against the beige background when I first painted him, he now looks too flatly white against the dark path.

Cycad Painting 7

© Ellen Blonder

Here's the bromeliad shaping up. 

© Ellen Blonder

And here it is with the colorful flower bracts. It needed something on the right for balance, so I've added some fan palm leaves.

Cycad Painting 6

© Ellen Blonder

I've got to add some color. I can't let this just be a goat by himself in green grass. There's a bromeliad I've been wanting to paint, and I now have it sketched into the lower left corner. I'll decide what else to add after I work on that.