Friday, February 17, 2017

Elks grazing in the morning light



41"x27",  Acrylic on Canvas

Enjoyed painting this scene of Elks grazing in the Jewel Meadow park. These are Roosevelt Elks or Olympic Elks found primarily in the pacific northwest of the US. And this painting is purely my interpretation of the actual scene.

The fairly big size painting posed some challenges. It required me to constantly step back and adjust the value relationships between different elements.The meadow required many rounds of glazing. Achieving the subtle light/color shifts in the grass and flowers took a while compared to other parts of the painting. At one stage, I got frustrated and stopped painting for two days. But the break helped me understand how to go about it and I resumed until I could pull it off!

In this painting, I was also experimenting to achieve color harmony which has always been a struggle for me. Composing this scene was challenging and fun. Various photographic references with some imagination helped. Took some artistic liberty in introducing a small pond, highlighting flowers and playing with the background light in the trees, to achieve an overall satisfying scene. And, this is one of the reasons I enjoy painting. :)