An Artist's Sketchbook

The Blue Heron Experiment: Part 1

I have been wanting to try a new stylized approach to painting some wildlife. Sort of a loose abstract but still maintaining some detail. A source of inspiration for this would be silk baltic paintings or even the "factal" effect of a stained glass window. This is a style I have been thinking of approaching for some time now and just decided to give it a go and see how it works out. I recorded each step along the way in a sort of tutorial of the process. More for my own benefit, to be able to look back and see how I created it. But, I thought it also be an interesting process for everyone else to see as well. So here it goes.

First I sketch out the design of the Heron using a Tuscany Red colored pencil. My ground for this is a 1/8" thick hardwood panel that I made myself. I usually only use my own panels cut from hardboard, sealed and primed.

Over the sketch I outlined the basic figure using Burnt Sienna, breaking the composition up into large shapes. I am working in oil, so I will let this dry overnight so that I can work on top of it without disturbing the original markings.
To the right of the panel you can see the photo reference I am using.