COUNTRY MORNING final step - adding the tail

Finally .....  I decided that, even though it wasn't visible in my original reference photo,  the cows tail should be added to close the composition. Every other photo I had from that morning had the tail hanging straight down so it was not difficult to place it in the picture.

COUNTRY MORNING polish the bucket and add a 3rd hen

I felt the composition could fit in 1 more hen to really set the scene and convey that friendly country atmosphere. The furthermost hen from the reference photo became my foreground lead in character. There was not much detail showing in the reference photo but that was actually ideal for the part I need her to play. Although her head is clearly turned back towards the viewer, I don't feel she is calling attention to herself but almost inviting company.
The bucket also was in need of a polish if it was to appear clean enough to receive milk. A handle and reflections were added.
The shirt extension was softened with a eraser to blur it into the background.
A simple lighting and shadow effect on the ground helps to maintain the central focus.

COUNTRY MORNING hen detail

Detail was added to the hens. Much of the shadow effect on the white hen was achieved by simply rubbing the white pastel off with my finger to allow the paper colour to show through.
Although the hens are very much in the foreground, and so quite large, their details have been kept fairly vague so as to not draw undue attention. They are not main characters but simply support props to set the scene.

With the addition of the hens I decided that the shirt needed to be extended to the other side of the picture to maintain balance.

COUNTRY MORNING hen reference photo

My reference photo for the hens.

COUNTRY MORNING blocking in the hens

After reviewing the composition I decided the bottom looked empty. It needed more chooks to set the scene and give that real country atmosphere. I had to be careful though, I didn't want these additions to have too much detail or they would compete with the portrait for attention.
Back in my photo library I found a photo of 3 hens  that was just right for the job.
It took a couple of attempts to get the positioning just right. My first position I decided was too close to the rooster so I erased them and moved them back a pace. ( you will notice the patch of chest missing on the rooster )
That is the beauty of working on quality paper - if you are not happy you can erase and rework at any time.

COUNTRY MORNING refining the likness

Work continued on the rooster, gradually adding details to the feathers. Attention was also given to refining the likeness of the portrait, bit by bit, making slight adjustments to the main features: the shading on the nose ..... the teeth and corner of the mouth..... corners of the eye....contours of the ear....as well as the positioning of the strongest highlights on the cheek, nose, chin and ear.

COUNTRY MORNING blending rooster adding hair and face details

The rooster colours were finger blended into the paper. More details were gradually added and blended in turn.
Then I returned my attention to the face and hair. Skin tones were built up to form the contours of the face. Highlights were added to the hair to indicated waves and curls.
Details were added to the udder. The back section was kept fairly plain, the closer to the face, the more detail and sharpness.

COUNTRY MORNING add the rooster

The rooster was added free hand by looking at the reference photo I had made earlier. I measured his overall height and noted a halfway point which was the widest part of his chest. The widest part of his tail was also roughly at this point. With these few measurements, I blocked in his general colours, employing some artistic licence to alter his position a little to suit my needs.

COUNTRY MORNING adding the bucket

When it came time to add the bucket I decided that I didn't like the look of the green plastic one in the original reference photo so I set about turning it silver. My first step was to edit the reference photo by reducing the colour to black and white adjusting the brightness & contrast. This gave me a pretty good idea of where to put the shading but I needed to see some reflections. I needed a real silver bucket. I borrowed and cleaned my husbands old concreting bucket and had a few more photos taken. Now I had some nice reflections of the handle against the bucket to work with.

COUNTRY MORNING adding the cow

The cow and  arms are blocked in and then finger blended into the paper, paying attention to the direction of hair growth. At this point I became unhappy with the progress of the portraits likeness. I knew the features were located accurately as they had been measured with the grid but I was not happy with the light and shading contours. These details are equally important to the location of yes, nose and mouth if a true likeness is to be achieved.

Rather than trying to continue to build up layers of pastel, I chose to remove most of the top layers on the face with a dry paintbrush. This left me with an underlying fleshtone on which I could start afresh. I decided to leave the face alone for a bit while I focus on adding in some of the other details of the picture.

COUNTRY MORNING starting the face

Using a variety of flesh tones the lights and darks  of the face are blocked in. The colours are then blended with fingers working around the contours and features. The eyes and mouth details are added and more flesh colours gradually built up. For the shadows and creases around the eyes,  mouth, ears and jawline an eraser is used gently to reveal undertones of the paper. Next some dark and midtones are blocked in and blended for the hair.

Country Morning - transfering image to paper

Country Morning Portrait reference photos

This week we will look at painting a portrait story. The main focus will be on the face with just enough background detail to convey some personality and suggest a bit of a story. Step one is to choose, crop and assemble some  reference photos. Milking time is always a bit of a community event at our place, with the foster calf waiting for her share of the milk and the free range chooks scouting about for dropped any grain. Even though I am working in a wide open space it can feel quite cramped when everyone wants to get in on the action.