Painting progress

      After a rare midday nap, I got to work painting the osprey's wings.  What I focused on today was the gradation in shading of the flight feathers using the sable color - dark at the leading edge and tip, lighter on the trailing edge and base.  Doing this right involved a painting technique I haven't really used before - wet mixing. Basically, the border between the shaded and light portions of the feathers is blurred using a wet brush.  I was moderately successful, and gained experience as I went.

     The first photo below shows the underwings, with the sable bars that I painted the other day and with the shading finished on one wing.  I took this photo to document the difference between the shaded and unshaded wing feathers.

     The workbook says to shade the leading edges and feather tips dark enough so that the bars almost disappear.  So far, the bars at the very tip are almost covered, and the bars appear more distinct towards the base of the feather.  The picture above compares the shaded right underwing with the unshaded left.  The photo below shows both underwings shaded, with the added challenge of getting the degree of shading similar on both sides.  I am not quite there, and may have to add more to the left underwing tomorrow when the paint is good and dry.

     The same shading technique is applied to the primary and secondary feathers on the top sides of the wings.  I was able to complete the topside primaries and secondaries before I ran out of gas.  This shading requires a lot of concentration!

     In all three photos, the tail can be seen, with the same shading applied but not as heavily, in accordance to the workbook.

     I worked about three hours today, for a total of 124 hours for this carving project so far.