Tuesday 28 February 2012

Whirling Dervish

Pastel on Clairefontaine Pastelmat, 19x13 inches

This was an appealing subject for Soft Pastel on Pastelmat.  People were feeding the ducks in Stamford last summer and they were all whirling around trying to grab bits of bread.  Looking directly into the sunlight, this created beautiful patterns on the water surface, with little jewels of pure light flashing intermittently.

Unless you're a genius, with the speed the Mallards dart about, it's impossible to capture this without the aid of a photograph, so I waited about until I got just the pose I wanted.  The drake's head has just the most superb, rich purples and greens, silhouetted against the light, with a shadow over it's breast.  The painting was all about the whole - not just the portrait of the Mallard, but the water itself with all it's marbled patterns.  It's easy to get bogged down concentrating on the individual marks and stabs of colour depicting the water, and lose the bigger picture, and I very nearly did.  Just about got away with it I think.  Don't forget that you can click on this and any other image to view it fullscreen.

7 comments:

  1. Your observation and amazing ability to just put enough in makes this a cracker.
    I am not normally keen on realism, but this work makes me want to see more.
    Nice one Peter

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    1. Cheers Trevor, thank you very much. I know my style isn't really your bag, so I really appreciate your comment!

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  2. Such a delight Peter, am learning a lot from just studying your pictures. Hope your forthcoming events do well. Ve

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    1. Thank you Ve - you're my most prolific commenter I think! Glad you are enjoying them and perhaps learning something, too.

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  3. Gorgeous work! The water is perfect in its sparkling translucency.

    The duck ain't bed either! lol...

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  4. oops. That's b-a-d as in "not bad" (actually excellent).. I need to lay off the caffeine..

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  5. Thank you Patrice - you sure it's not the vodka? Love your (various) Blogs! I had a tom cat almost exactly like your Molly and he was a beefcake too!

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