I always find it amazing how much better paintings look on the computer screen… the colours glow and, perhaps because they’re smaller and more remote from the viewer, it’s easier to overlook all the things that are bugging me in the real thing.
I have pretty much decided to start this one again because I’ve overworked the clouds and the line of trees, but they don’t look so bad here. I was also hoping for a much looser overall effect – which I know I will never get if I use masking fluid to save the white space, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have painted that sky behind the birds without losing them in red and blue.
I’m going to keep working on this one as it’s a great way to work out the challenges – such as: my reference photo has the light coming from the left, so I’m going to have to imagine how the birds should look lit from behind… but I think I just might try loosely splashing a new background tomorrow and see where it takes me ;-).