After playing chicken with me for weeks on end, I’ve managed to to finally wrap up this fabulous running African Swamphen.
I walked on eggshells with this one… Apart from the lack of healthy headspace (it just flew the coop!), the biggest challenge was the colour variations. I’ve never used so many different colours in one painting… The blues alone called for four different hues - talk about putting all your eggs in one basket!
The sand splatters were my favourite part to paint. It might look intricate and detailed enough to make you chicken out, but I assure you it really was by far the easiest. All that is needed is a teeny weeny brush and a couple of hours' worth of little paint bloops... Of course, knowing you're close to the end also helps!
Sadly, for me a difficult process can sometimes lead to a strained relationship with my end product. So, if a piece was overly challenging to create, I don’t always like the final artwork very much, even if it is proficient. Thankfully, this was not the case with this one: I feel like a proud mother hen, and I’m super happy with how it turned out! Especially since it was such a challenging piece.
Perhaps I'm growing?! Ooooh myyyy! ;)
Without further ado, enjoy the process of “Dash!”, my African Purple Swamphen.
PS. During the creation process, we affectionately nicknamed this piece, “The Chicken”. That should explain the cringe-worthy overuse of chicken metaphors… ;)
PPS. The striking reference photo for this piece - talk about poetry in motion! - was expertly captured (and shared with permission) by award-winning wildlife photographer, Albert Froneman.
PPS. The bespoke watercolour original of "Dash!", along with 20 fine art, limited edition prints, will soon be available in my online shop. If you would like to reserve either, please contact me! First come, first serve...
The baby stages: A weird, rather ugly floating face...!
This is such a good example of progress made in a few hours. On the left, the footsie is just a quick wash to block out basic colours and mark shadows. On the right, it's almost-almost done!
Belly done; first colour wash of wing is in!
That back footsie still needs some detail, and the wing needs plenty of detail, but the end is in sight!
A running chicken!!! Now for the ground and sand splatter!
Ta-daaaa!
See more of my wildlife artwork in my online shop!
