Animals by Barry
Evolution of My Artwork:
Step by Step
Spaulding White Peacock
Acrylic on canvas
40" x 60"
I am beginning a new painting
“Spaulding White Peacock” acrylic on canvas 40”x60”
This bird is a hybrid of a White Peacock (Pavo cristatus) and a Green Peacock (Pavo muticus).
The specimen I will be painting is the finest of its type I have ever seen. It will combine the pure white color of the White Peacock with the intense yellow face patch and vertical head crest of the Green Peacock.
I begin by prepping my canvas with 2 layers of Black Gesso.
I will then set this aside a few days while I work on the layout and composition.
Although the painting will appear almost completely white the black background gives me a contrasting surface to work on.
This is the layout for my new 40”x60” acrylic Spaulding White Peacock painting. I applied the layout in white India Ink.
Next I lightened the background slightly where the tail and wing is and eliminated the layout lines I no longer want. I did this by painting over then with the same black gesso I prepared the canvas with.
I have marked the location of the spines of each of the longest train feather spines and painted the full length of the first level.
There will be many layers of white feathers. In order to make subtle differentiation this layer begins with a very pale blue color. I will later be utilizing very transparent glazes as well as multiple white and near-white colors in order to make the most subtle variations.
I have marked the location of the spines of each of the longest train feather spines and painted the full length of the first level.
There will be many layers of white feathers. In order to make subtle differentiation this layer begins with a very pale blue color. I will later be utilizing very transparent glazes as well as multiple white and near-white colors in order to make the most subtle variations.
I have completed the first color of the first layer on long feathers of my very large Spaulding White Peacock painting.
This Spaulding White Peacock will consist of many layers of white feathers. I am therefore creating subtle variations to be able to see all those whites. In addition to multiple very light colors I will also be extensively utilizing glazes (highly transparent colors).
Prussian Blue is a color I find highly useful. It is a transparent blue that when applied full strength appears almost black, but when applied less is a pleasant blue. I have made a glaze of very fluid acrylic medium with just a few drops of Prussian Blue.
This I apply in multiple very thin layers while wiping off what I don’t want until the first layer of train feathers looks just like I want. I have not applied this glaze to the central area where I previously painted the tail prior to beginning this painting.
The function of glazes is not to create new colors, but rather to make subtle variations to existing colors. As you can see it has very little effect on the black background.
The colors I am using will appear a bit harsh and exaggerated in the early stages of this painting but will become more subdued and natural-looking as I add other colors and glazes later.
This completes the first layer of long feathers of my Spaulding White Peacock painting.
In this step I highlighted the spines and the plumules at the ends with an extremely light neutral grey. Then I highlighted the ends of the spines with pure white (but used no pure white over the tail section).
The train will have another layer of long feathers followed by multiple layers of eye feathers.
Prior to beginning the second layer of long feathers on my Spaulding White Peacock painting I placed one more coat of extremely transparent Prussian Blue glaze (excluding the central portion).
At this point my original layout is getting very difficult to see. I selected a red color that I do not plan to use in this painting, and marked the location of the eye feathers. This color will be completely covered over later in the painting but will allow me to keep track of what I intend to paint.
Lastly I have added the spines for the second layer of long feathers. I have utilized the same pale blue color that I began the first layer with, but will not be utilizing the same glaze.
I have completed the very light purple color to the long feathers of my Spaulding White Peacock painting. When this color is dry I will use some very light glaze to subtly modify portions of this color.
You will notice a hint of other feather types to come on the lower leading edge of the train, but there will be much more extensive work on these later.
Because this is essentially a pure-white bird the challenge is to differentiate the many layers of different feathers (all of which are pure white).
One of the ways I am differentiating layers is with color. The more distant layers will utilize cooler colors while the closer layers will use warmer colors and pure white. This I am accomplishing both by mixing very pale colors and then by modifying some of them with highly transparent glazes.
I have used a more transparent layer of the Prussian Blue glaze I used earlier in this Spaulding White Peacock painting.
This further defines where the tail feathers support the train and provide a cooler darker background for the lighter layers of feathers to be painted later. Only portions of this second layer of long feathers have received this glaze and this completes this layer.
I have painted the spear feathers of my Spaulding White Peacock painting.
These special feathers occur only on the leading edge of the train (lower edge of the painting).
Using the same light purple color I used earlier, I painted the spine and plumules of each feather. I waited for these to dry then shaded each feather with a very pale Prussian Blue glaze. In order to define each feather’s overlap, these two steps were repeated separately for each feather.
I begin the first of the eye feathers of my Spaulding White Peacock painting with the first 37 spines.
Using a very pale yellow color I apply the longest spines, most of which extend into the gallery-wrapped edges.
Although all these feathers are white I have still not used any white paint in this painting.
I have painted the plumules of the shaft portion of the first group of “eye” feathers of my Spaulding White Peacock painting.
I used a very pale yellow color and will paint the “eye portions later.
This concludes the shaft portion of the eye feathers of my Spaulding White Peacock painting. I have also under painted the center of the “eyes” with metallic silver.
This step was done in multiple steps and the silver under color was applied after each group to help me keep track of what still needed to be painted.
So far I have not used any white paint in this painting. After this dries I will be using white to both paint the eye sections , and highlight the end portions of the shaft sections.
For those of you who wonder, there are about 50 steps to painting one of my peacock paintings. When I painted my first peacock painting I spent over 3 weeks pre-planing each step before beginning. Additionally I made hundreds of custom color tests as I went along. This reduces my “errors” to almost zero.
Now the work flow is in my head and I spend less time pre-planning, but nevertheless each step is pre-planned before I begin one of these peacock paintings. In effect I see the completed painting in my head before beginning.
Using white paint I have begun to paint the “ eyes “ of the eye feathers of my Spaulding White Peacock painting.
Only a few have been done so far so this is a detail of a few of them.
The train is bowed and these feathers are angled towards the viewer.
In order to better portray this perspective I widened, foreshortened and enlarged these “eyes”. This will better depict the 3D effect I want so the train does not look too flat.
Each feather has a lot of detail and takes a lot of time and there are a lot of them. This step in the painting will take a lot of time to complete.
I have completed the eye feathers of my Spaulding White Peacock painting.
The train is the majority of the work of my peacock paintings and this completes the train. The rest of the painting will proceed more quickly.
The saddle area will be the next part of my Spaulding White Peacock painting I will be working on.
In preparation I have utilized a white glaze to simulate an undercololor to the train where the body is.
Using white glaze and light grey paint I defined the future location of the body and neck.
Using grey undercoat followed by metallic silver I have built up a texture corresponding to the future location of the saddle feathers. At this point this texture is not in the direction of the future feathers. That is because this texture will correspond to the shadow contour of the feathers. The feather direction will be built up later.
For now I will give this under color time to dry.
Working on the saddle area of my Spaulding White Peacock painting.
The ridges of the thick textured metallic silver undercoat will become the spines of the saddle feathers. Now I apply a pale blue color.
Continuing on the saddle area of my Spaulding White Peacock painting I have applied a very pale yellow color and a transparent warm yellow color.
I have now added all the basic colors to the body of my Spaulding White Peacock painting (white highlights last)
The challenge is that this is an all-white bird with all-white parts. Differentiation is challenging. The body will be shaded using various glazes later. The same processes will be necessary for the white head and crest. So I will do all these parts together to insure consistency and so everything works together.
The first stage of work on the head of my Spaulding White Peacock painting is to lay down some under-colors.
These will define where the elements of the face will go and provide and underlying texture consistent with the final layers.
I am not yet beginning the crest but I have laid down a thick layer of clear medium beneath where the crest will be. This will not be visible but will provide a smoother surface when I do paint the highly detailed crest. (It will reduce the texture from the underlying train feathers)
I will add additional transparent layers as I work on the face so they will be ready for me when it is time to work on the crest.
Each time I worked on the head of my Spaulding White Peacock painting I added another layer of transparent medium beneath where the crest will be and let it dry. I now have several clear layers and begin with the first layer of crest feathers. I use 2 different yellows diluted with white.
The beak will have many layers of transparent media and varnish with colors sandwiched between the layers, so I begin the beak early to allow me to add additional layers each time I work. I use transparent and opaque white, pink and black glaze.
For the yellow face patch I have added small dots of 2 different yellows. These deliberately vary in size, location and shape and are carefully arranged in patterns consistent with the real bird.
It is to my advantage to only do a very small amount of detail in each of these areas, each time I work on them, because I intend to apply many layers of clear varnish and media especially to the beak.
As I said earlier today I am doing a very small amount of detailing at each step.
For the head crest I have added 2 more layers of clear medium. For the beak I have also added 2 more transparent layers and sandwiched in a little more detailing with the same colors I used previously. The transparent layers soften the transition between colors and give the beak a natural translucent look. Many more transparent layers will be added to actually give the beak a three dimensional sculptural surface.
The brilliant yellow face patch is one of the most important features of this bird. I have utilized multiple yellow and orange glances to replicate the color and texture of the real bird.
I added a little more face detail to beak, crest, face (feathers and skin) and a new light yellow highlight color to the yellow spot.
I have applied mostly all the colors to my Spaulding White Peacock painting
Because everything is “white” it is a challenge to differentiate one white from another. For the crest and part of the face I have utilized a small amount of a special color that will change back and forth from nearly white to blue depending on how the light hits it. Without a special color the crest would be more difficult to see.
I have painted the eye. When these colors are dry I will be creating my 3D varnish effect for the eye and beak. As I paint multiple layers of varnish I will also have the opportunity to sandwich a small amount of additional detail between the layers.
This is a final shot of the head illustrating the 3-dimensional high gloss varnish effects.
The crest, eye, and beak have about 20 layers of varnish and color.