Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Blue Heron Taking Flight, Original Painting 11x14


This great blue heron is about to take flight in the Matagorda, Texas wet lands next to the Colorado River.  He was well over 100 yards away when I took a chance photoshot and got lucky enough to hit the target.  His image came out fuzzy and very small on the photo.  I enlarged the image and increased the contrast enough to paint from.  This painting was a real drill in painting the light and shadows to create the shapes and make him look realistic and a lot different than a fuzzy spec on a photograph.  There are pros and cons among artists about using photographs to paint from, but I could never have painted this fantastic scene without a camera and also a whole lot of luck.  Taking Flight is on a11x14 stretched canvas.

Let us pray before we paint,
Jimmie

2 comments:

Vernita Hoyt said...

You have beautifully captured the great blue heron in paint. Your colors are perfect. The limited palette really works well in this painting. The hardest thing to capture in a painting, in my opinion, is motion ... and you've captured motion. I can see this heron moving forward. He is placed just right in your composition. Great job on this one, Jimmie!

Jimmie Bartlett said...

Thanks Vernita. Your comments of encouragement means a lot to me. I follow your blog and always look forward to your next posts.
Jimmie