"Animals Only" June Workshop 2010

"Beady Eyes"

A very grumpy cockerel is about to appear from an excitingly vibrant first wash. 

I have no idea why I seem to find myself laughing non stop when I paint a subject that looks grumpy! I am not alone as this wonderful cockerel in a very bad mood seemed to have everyone smiling last week on my "Animals Only" workshop. I did promise to share some of the studies on my blog so to everyone who was there "that beady eye" is now surrounded by beautifully glowing colour. 

I am delighted with how this is turning out!

I was demonstrating how to paint a number of different eyes. I painted a lovely cats' eye, a dogs' and this cockerel purely because they looked as though they were in such a bad mood!

Eyes say so much. It is important to try to capture personality by painting them full of life. Once the eye above appeared it seemed really alive. I have continued with some interesting  brushmarks around the eye and then worked into the feathers.

Fresh , clean colour. Confident brushmarks. A  huge touch of enthusiasm and a relaxed hand will bring this fellow to life. He may look very mean but I think he is beautiful!

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