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.

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 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.

Colored Pencil Rooster-Day 5 Final

© Ellen Blonder

All done. I'll only overwork him if I continue. 

Colored Pencil Rooster-Day 4

© Ellen Blonder

Slowly filling in the feathers on the rooster's body.

Colored Pencil Rooster-Day 3

© Ellen Blonder

Working out those great tail feathers, all attitude and, well, cockiness.

Colored Pencil Rooster-Day 2

© Ellen Blonder

Rather than filling in the shape head to tail, I want to see relative values as I go--or is it that I'm too impatient to see the rooster develop in such an orderly way?

Colored Pencil Rooster-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

I've been playing with colored pencil, but not sketched anything very colorful. I thought I'd try a rooster. This handsome guy posed for a photo along a walk in Kauai, where they're everywhere. I darkened the scan of this to show the basic shape; the lines are actually much lighter.

Another Rooster-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

I've been wanting to paint another rooster since finishing the one exactly a year ago. This is a detail of the first day's sketch on a 16 x 16-inch board. My reference is a magnificent creature with an unusual ivory-feathered neck and real rooster attitude, strutting through a parking lot in Kauai.