Small Cardinal Painting - Final

© Ellen Blonder

Done. I hope the fallen leaf gives a sense of scale to this little bird.

Small Cardinal Painting - 4

© Ellen Blonder

I spent yesterday and today adding leaf colors and details, and starting the dried grass at the cardinal's feet. 

Small Cardinal Painting - 3

 © Ellen Blonder

 © Ellen Blonder

It's time to give the cardinal an environment. I worked it out on tissue paper, then transferred the results roughly onto the canvas through graphite paper.

I'm planning to add lighter dead grass in layers over the dark ground, and some delicate weeds I've been wanting to paint. I found the leaves in the background at the McBryde Garden in Kauai. They seem to be a kind of philodendron. 

Small Cardinal Painting - 2

© Ellen Blonder

Oops, I realized the head on the cardinal was too small for the body. Now it feels more in correct proportions. I'm starting to think about what to put around it, rough as it still is.

Small Cardinal Painting - 1

© Ellen Blonder

This is the beginning of a small canvas, 8 x 10 inches, for a small bird, a Brazilian cardinal that came for a visit in Kauai. It looked at me warily as I took a few photos for reference, and my favorites were the head-on poses.

Cardinals - Sketches 1

© Ellen Blonder

I'm just now getting to sketching the delightful Brazilian cardinals that like to visit our lanai in Kauai, or hop about the beach and pathways near our place. I used my photographs for reference, while they posed obligingly and pecked at our breakfast breadcrumbs. I don't know what will work its way into a painting.

Goat-Final

© Ellen Blonder

With some cleaning up and added lights and darks, this goat painting is done. 

Goat-Day 12

© Ellen Blonder

Just about finished. I'll touch up the sky and add a little detail to the foliage, but this feels pretty done.

Goat-Day 11

© Ellen Blonder

Shading in the spider lily leaves, then adding background foliage took up most of the day today. It ended up more stylized than realistic, but I like the flow of it.

Goat-Day 10

© Ellen Blonder

I've wanted to put Brazilian cardinals into a painting for a long time. I always love seeing and hearing them in Kauai. I also worked on the seed pods of the spider lily on the lower left of the painting.

Goat-Day 3

© Ellen Blonder

This looks very rough still, but laying in the dark values will help me keep the goat from being too light overall. I'm adding a pair of Brazilian cardinals to the foreground, among my favorite birds on the island.