Share to XI’ve been working on a quiet painting featuring three ducks on a pond, with warm twilight colors reflecting off the water’s surface. It was going okay, but then I knocked the painting on the floor and chipped one of the corners. I’ll take that as a sign to stop work and call the painting finished (I don’t really want to continue working on a damaged painting). It’s close enough. You can see here:
It looks a little unfinished, but that’s okay. It plays into the subject’s hazy, low-light atmosphere. I don’t want it to look too clean and refined. Perhaps dropping the painting was a blessing in disguise, preventing me from overworking it.
It’s an interesting subject in that there are two strong ideas or focal points at play: 1) The three ducks, and 2) The twilight colors reflecting off the water’s surface.
You might assume the ducks are more important, but it was actually the reflected twilight colors that first caught my attention. They had this beautiful, silky glow in person. The ducks were just a nice addition.
Here are some progress shots (keep in mind, I used a different camera for these and they are overexposed):
Kind regards
Dan Scott
Draw Paint Academy
—
Most of what I put out is completely free, but if you ever want to dive deeper, check out the following:
Sunrise and Sunset Workshop: Perfect if you want to learn more about color, light, and contrast.
Tree Workshop: Our latest workshop. Join me and hundreds of other students as we paint trees from around the world.
Landscape Painting Masterclass: A deep dive into landscape painting and how to capture nature’s beauty in a painting.
