Keeping Down the Noise

Red Wattlebird

If there's one aspect of my artistic endeavours that's frustrated me more than any other over recent years, it's the difficulty I've had acquiring acceptable photographic reference material.

Photographs usually provide the initial inspiration for my painting ideas and, although I'm too often a slave to them in the sense that I stick very closely to what it is they depict, there's no denying their importance as a creative tool.

Perhaps if I painted landscapes or my painting style was looser, the ideas my photographs spark would be reward enough for time spent with camera in hand. The fact is, however, that for better or worse I'm inclined to include a significant level of detail in my paintings, and with a focus (no pun intended!) on wildlife subjects, I'm heavily reliant on my photographs to reveal anatomical details or the lay of fur and feather.

Until now, I've often been disappointed with the quality of my photographs, particularly those taken in low light that lack necessary detail in shadow areas and are invariably afflicted with those extravagantly coloured flecks and specks referred to in the photography world as "image noise". To be fair to my camera, the lack of a really long focal length lens has contributed too; instead of providing a close-up view of the detail I'm seeking, enlarging my photographs using software on my laptop serves only to exaggerate these flaws - and heighten my frustration levels!  

I'm confident that a recent purchase in the form of a semi-pro Canon digital camera and a couple of high-end L-series Canon lenses will increase my success rate. I accept that I'll continue to take my fair share of blurred and otherwise useless shots, but it's much more likely now that they'll be attributable to "operator error" or uncooperative wildlife rather than inadequate equipment.

New Holland Honeyeater

The shots I took this evening in low light as I put this camera through its paces are incredibly clear and crisp, and the noise that plagued many of my photographs in the past is virtually absent, even with camera settings that have typically guaranteed poor clarity and the aforementioned noise. Both of the lenses I've purchased feature Canon's "Image Stabilisation" technology which further improves the chances that even shots taken in fading light without a tripod will yield useful results.

Brown Honeyeater

I plan on posting more samples from time to time as familiarity and confidence with this new camera grow. As the photos displayed here were taken in my back garden this afternoon within an hour or two of receiving the second and longest of my lenses, I'm excited by the prospect of gathering some high-quality shots; I've already short-listed some potential wildlife habitats I'd like to explore over the weeks ahead. It goes without saying that the longer term plan is to feature some new paintings based on the ideas they provoke.

Cheers

Pete       

Staying Sane in the City

Our need to maintain a regular income dictates that for the time being at least, Sandi and I must lead a suburban existence in relative proximity to the heart of the city. Thankfully, as cities go, Perth is comparatively small and its urban sprawl is interspersed with some significant bushland remnants.

Juvenile galah

As we looked for a house recently that would suit our needs for the next few years, a factor that contributed to our eventual decision was access to such bushland, not only as an incentive to exercise both the dog and ourselves more regularly than had recently been the case, but also as the means to stay connected to our shared vision of an eventual transition to a rural lifestyle.

An incentive to stay on the path!

Our new home may be in the suburbs, but it's well positioned no more than 100 metres from an extensive bush and parkland reserve bordering the upper reaches of the Canning River. An evening walk with the dog is a great way to unwind after a day cooped up in a city office block, and as the light softens and many of the resident bird species seek out a convenient roosting place along the tree-lined river banks, the hassles of the working day are easily banished; with a small dose of self-delusion, we can even imagine ourselves far removed from the hustle and bustle of city life!

Long-billed corellas

Willy wagtail

Rainbow lorikeets

Twenty-eight parrot

Stand-off at the nesting hollow - lorikeet and corella

The bushland might not be in a pristine state and the wildlife is hardly exotic, but we look forward to the brief evening excursions that help us make it through the working week. Our dog does too!

Cheers
Pete

Fun With a Reef Egret

I've accomplished a little more with this painting, mostly through the week, later at night when the working day and the usual activities that follow it are out of the way. If your TV viewing options are as dismal as mine usually are, there are probably few excuses for not putting in a couple of hours of painting before bed time! If there's a danger in painting at night, however, it's that my judgement of colour is skewed somewhat by the artificial lights I paint under; viewed in daylight conditions the following morning, there are noticeable differences.

Without really planning it that way, I find myself using glazing techniques almost exclusively, in much the same way that I've come to handle acrylic paints. As the photo shows, I'm painstakingly building up colour, tonal values and texture in the rocks, still using only ultramarine and burnt sienna over the initial raw umber underpainting. The daunting prospect of painting the egret itself is looming ever larger!    

Cheers
Pete

Inch by Inch

I haven't advanced much further with this painting over the course of the week, but what little time I did spend on it brought home to me that with the combination of a dedicated painting area in our new house where painting materials and equipment are permanently accessible, and the luxury afforded by oil paints which I can leave on the palette overnight or even longer, I can easily resume where I left off whenever I have a few spare moments. There's no longer a requirement to set up in the kitchen every time I feel the urge to paint as I had to in the past. I'm sure that necessity contributed to my reluctance to begin a painting session when available time was limited - thankfully, the days of a kitchen studio are over!

As you can see, I'm continuing to darken the rocks on the left of the painting with scumbled glazes of ultramarine and burnt sienna. I'm confident I'll be able to steal a few moments away from domestic chores and make more significant progress over the coming weekend.

Cheers
Pete

Egrets on the Brain

Maybe it's my uncertainty with oils, or perhaps it's been so long since I've painted in any medium that I've simply forgotten how much my thoughts throughout the day are dominated by the creative process.

Through the planning stages and on into the execution of this painting, I find myself mentally rehearsing my next move as the day progresses, even as I'm trapped in a city office block, up to my ears in computing work! Having endured my obligatory nine-to-five working day, I can finally apply paint to canvas, putting into practice the plan of attack I've formulated at work. When I've finished painting for the night, cleaned brushes and teeth and crawled into bed, I fall asleep conducting a post-mortem of the painting session, only to repeat the cycle when I wake the next morning. On that basis, I'm inclined to think that the pursuit of art is a lifestyle rather than a pastime!

Cheers
Pete

Egret - A Hint of Colour!

After developing what I felt was an effective range of techniques and the beginnings of an identifiable style using acrylic paints, I felt quite daunted by the challenges posed by oils and was unsure how to proceed with this painting initially.

After dusting off some old art books and trawling the internet for guidance, I was able to develop a loose plan and make a tentative start. Having drawn in the egret and the major lines which define the structure of the painting, an under-painting in raw umber to roughly establish darks and lights was my first nervous step with this oil painting. The simple act of covering up that brilliant white expanse of canvas with a dilute layer of paint was enough to lift my spirits and, although I'm still feeling my way as I continue to refine darks and lights, I'm satisfied enough with the way this painting is progressing at this very early stage.

Cheers

Pete

Egret - Laying the Foundations

As the idea for this painting nagged at me intermittently over several months and became more clearly defined, I came to the view that the unusual arrangement of the bird demands that its escape route not be blocked by a frame of any kind, hence my choice of a "gallery wrap" canvas.

To accentuate the egret's upward momentum, I've aligned the edge of the rock face immediately behind the bird with the bird's left leg and angled it similarly to provide a more or less unbroken vertical path through rock, leg and bird. I've also manipulated slightly the angle of the broken branch below the bird to mirror the angle of this line thereby suggesting an upwards-pointing "arrow" shape which (I hope) contributes further to the illusion of vertical movement. The small elongated highlight in the rock towards the lower edge of the canvas extends and reinforces this inverted "V" shape as do several other lines and edges, the most noticeable of which are defined by the bird's tail feathers and the margins of its wings. Whether these design elements add to the effectiveness of the overall composition I'll leave to you to decide. For the most part, they were already present in the reference photographs; I've simply adjusted their placement and will try to draw attention to those I feel are helpful in the design sense.

Hopefully, the image together with the explanation I've offered above begin to convey what it is I'm trying to accomplish with this painting. I'm in no way seeking to promote myself as any kind of authority where matters of composition are concerned; I trust, however, that providing some insight into my thought processes is of some interest.

I'm still reacquainting myself with oil paints having switched to acrylics many years ago, but I have managed to delve into the dark, dusty recesses of my mind to reawaken memories of basic oil painting techniques, including the idea of a monochrome under-painting - my next milestone.

Having just moved house, most of my spare time seems to be taken up with domestic chores, however, the prospect of establishing a workspace solely for art is spurring me on, the promise being that I can leave my painting paraphernalia set up and readily accessible, unlike my previous situation where I was forced to commandeer the kitchen bench space between meal times!        

More soon.

Cheers

Pete