Colour Study of Bufflehead Ducks

In this video I'm doing a colour study of a pair of bufflehead ducks.  It was a very quiet day in terms of the light when I was out looking for birds to photograph.   It was quite cloudy which means there was no opportunity to have any dramatic light.  The result feel like all the colours really muted.  I got this reference on May 14th 2021.  The challenge that year was that winter was holding on for dear life and finally it was just starting to melt a bit.  The edges of the lakes were just, just getting slushy.   

The focus in the beginning is to start with the background of the water and snow that is around and behind the ducks.  Slowly building up until the shapes of the bufflehead ducks showing up in the negative space.
 
I used a very thin layer of burnt sienna as underpainting.  I don’t do an underpainting for my big paintings very often, but I do for all my colour studies. It helps me to see the light and dark values easier.  It gives me a comparison to work from. It just works for me.

​I just keep adding layers and layers until I get the background to where I want it to be. I am not in a rush.

​I’m starting to work on the female and the male by putting in the darkest value on. Now there is something to compare with.  I have my lightest light and darkest dark on the board.
 
Building up around the duck, she is very quiet in colour, as most female ducks are.  She has these sweet white feathers on her cheeks.
 
I use the same brush, a Princton Dakota flat, through most of this painting.  I really like how stiff it is.  I can really smoosh it and work hard with it to keep the paint thin.  I get wider lines by using the width of the brush and thinner lines just by turning the brush on its edge. 
 

​Now on to the male he had a very little bit of colour on him.  Bufflehead males can be quite iridescent if photographed in the correct lighting.  I was able to add a small amount of iridescence on his head without it looking out of place with the light that was actually present. 
 
The male, like most ducks, has all the drama compared to the female.  I love the big white patch on his head and the very white bottom, where she is far more subtle. 
 
There were not a lot of reeds in this area that they were swimming in.  Here I begin to get them in place.

I continue to use thin layers of paint.  I don’t particularly like thick paint. I find it hard to manage when I have too much paint on my brush.
 
When doing a colour study, I'm looking at colours and values and the interaction of each of the elements.  
 
Working on the reflections that I'm seeing.  I keep these purposefully very simplified for this colour study.

The water was fairly calm that day as they paddled back and forth.  Actually, the pair were in a ditch, as I mentioned earlier there had been very little melting happening around the lakes even though it was the middle of May.     
 
As the ducks’ paddle past they are creating some rippling in the water behind them.  Focusing in on these small details makes the water seem more real.   I have changed to a smaller brush to paint in the smaller areas.
 
I have done a number of paintings with water and each one is so different from the other.  I marvel at the very living nature of water and how diverse it can be from even one hour to the next. 

​I notice that water also reflects darker values. As the ripples fan out, they may crossing paths and creating very distinct forms.  Water is always changing.  The variation makes water a very rewarding subject matter to explore with paint. ​