Rooster Painting-Final

© Ellen Blonder

I may still add a highlight or shadow here or there, but otherwise, this rooster painting is done. Check earlier posts if you want to see the progression. Hope you've enjoyed it.

Rooster Painting-Twelfth Day

© Ellen Blonder

I thought I wanted a cloudier, moodier sky, but can't seem to resist the blue. I also wanted something to balance the warm oranges and golds. All that's left now is another two or three days of adding details to the middle ground and leaves, and tweaking highlights and shadows.

Rooster Painting-Tenth Day

© Ellen Blonder

This is both the most fun and most tedious stage, working out details and watching the final painting emerge when I step back. I'll still have to resolve what happens in the middle ground, but for now, I'm relieved to see the rooster in a setting that seems to work.

Rooster Painting-Eighth Day

© Ellen Blonder

I've settled on a bird of paradise flower for the foreground, after considering a heliconia and orchid (see posts below). I like how it mimics the rooster's comb. I'm also laying in the "bones" for the other foliage. I despaired of not photographing enough small banana trees for reference, when, while visiting a friend yesterday, there was the perfect tree in her garden for the upper left corner of this painting. The colors always look flat and awful to me at this point, all the reason I need to keep painting.