Last year on the seafront at Ostend I encountered a small flock of 1st winter Lesser Blackback Gulls. It was bitterly cold and windy - not the weather for hanging about. I took several useful photographs.
I had enough material showing the birds in different poses the problem with photographic references is how to make use of them. Charles Tunnicliffe I know would compose an unruly flock into a carefully arranged design. That level of skill is beyond my reach at the moment. Lars Jonnsson however has made some delightfully simple paintings showing just two or three birds set against the sea. Lars Jonnson wins on this occasion!
I’ve chosen two of them to compose this picture.
The gulls were scavenging on the promenade near the ferry terminal so a more natural environment was needed. The rocky motifs were taken from some pictures I took on a visit to the Farne Islands. I decided to place the background for this picture in first. The gulls winter plumage was quite subtle and delicate and I felt that a strongly stated background would be out of character.
This is another reacquaintance with an Acrylic painting made a few years ago. The hills lie on the south side of the Arno valley near Pisa.
This is another version of a painting I posted back in November 2011 – then it had a flight of oystercatchers over the Sound. I was never really happy with it so I have reworked it again. I repainted the Sound to hide the Oystercatchers. I’ve reworked the sky because the overcast evening sky didn’t work. Some tonal adjustments were made to the cliffs on Ramsey Island.
To create a new wildlife interest to replace the Oystercatchers I’ve attracted some Arctic Terns to fly in from the Farne Islands to complete the picture! All this is helped by the quick dryinf properties of Liquitex Acrylics.
I’m reminded of how Alwyn Crawshaw always ended his TV demonstrations with. "I’m happy with that." That sums up this post for me too.
