Sunday, March 28, 2010

Royal Tern

Detail from test painting

Last month Paul bought me some new acrylics made by M. Graham. I've been itching to try them and I finally found a few minutes this weekend to give them a go. I'm no connoisseur of paints, but I definitely liked their consistency (very smooth - I suppose what people describe as buttery) and the color seems nice and vibrant. The sand has Naples yellow in it - a new color to my palette and one I like very much. I think I will have to get a few additional colors as I wanted the water to be a turquoise but my only blue is Ultramarine and that's just too dark for it.

We went for another walk along the river this afternoon. The osprey should be back any day now, but we didn't see signs of them today. We did however hear a spotted towhee, which is always a good thing. Tree swallows should be the next birds to return. This time of year is so exciting as every week brings new arrivals.

2 comments:

Hilke Breder said...

I love the simplicity of the sketch, beautiful colors and simple clear lines -- quite powerful.

Youa Vang said...

i like your new header; and yes - very exciting indeed for the new arrivals. I was down by the river a couple weeks ago when the weather was just right and there was some continuous thumping going on around and looked up and saw a wood pecker going away at the telephone pole. lol.