Some days are just more profound than others. Today is one of them - I put the finishing touches on a one-shot seascape / bird painting (which means I won't be painting this genre on a regular basis). This is also the first time in two months I've been able to blog. Between painting, doing a commissioned mural, a painting class, and a local display of my works, the last six weeks have been hectic. Good - but hectic.
Another profound day was last week while out on my daily walk with a friend. She noticed seagulls circling over a large fishing vessel. She mentioned, "I love when they do that... as long as I'm not directly underneath them!" We continued walking along the local boardwalk and rested on a bench near the South End beach. After about ten minutes or so, the flock of seagulls flew over to near where we were and once again began their circling dance. We counted approximately 25 birds flying in synchronicity - diving, swooping, swirling back up, then circling again.
I pondered as we watched - it always amazes me these birds never hit each other. It's so beautiful; like a rehearsed ballet. Another five minutes passed, the seagulls moved on to another locale. "Wow! That was spectacular!" I finally said. "Are you going to paint it?" my friend asked. "I've seen a painting with the harbor below the birds. However you paint it, I'd like to see it when it's done."
It was about four days later when I began the process of recreating what I saw onto canvas. I thought about what my friend had said about a setting for this painting. I finally decided that sky and birds would be enough. I mixed Ultramarine Blue and White until I achieved the shade I wanted for the sky. I had to wait until that paint dried before attempting the birds. That way they would "stay" without smudging. When that time finally came, I tried patting in a shade of grey, but found that my brushes were too big. The strokes just made big blobs of paint hanging in the air, so I had to wipe them off and begin again.
I waited a few more days. In the meantime, I dug through my art supply closet and found some smaller brushes that I haven't used in a quite a while. At first I was disappointed - while the brushes were in good shape, they still had a little brightly colored paint on them. I had read in a trade magazine that using Murphy's Oil Soap was just the trick to remove old paint & bring the brushes back to life. Going for broke (like I usually do), I poured a bunch of M.O.S. into a large Mason jar and put 20 some odd brushes in it to soak overnight. Low and behold, the next day I rinsed them all off, and they were clean & looked like new!
With small brush in hand, I went at the canvas again with the medium grey paint to resemble birds in flight. This time I was satisfied with the results and called it good. So did my friend - she now has a mated print hanging on her wall.
Until next time,
The Happy Painter,
Jill
