ROBIN

"Start with a whisk and end with a broom" John Singer Sargent.

I wanted to try a whole different way of working with this one…long handled hog hair brushes, starting with marks that blended one into another (whisk) and slowly building up to a few thicker more defined marks (with my broom!) trying to keep everything in soft focus apart from the robin’s eye. Can you spot the difference between the two? Once it was dry I glazed over the upper branches to knock the back and make them more distant.
I loved the soft muted palette of colours needed to make it look wintery. I’ve tried to subtly drop in pale Robin colours into the sky holes. There is no ‘white’ on the painting, but subtle peaches, greys, blues & mauves.
I’m hoping to be teaching @nature_in_art_official in Gloucestershire next year…and this little robin will likely be one of our muses! A great exercise in colour mixing, application and softening the edges to create distant branches, fluffy feathers, and the illusion of depth and movement.