stepbystepegrets

Ian Griffiths (Griff)
Wildlife Artist

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This step by step is more about the process of a painting or in this case more than one. This part of Devoran creek is near Truro and one I visit several times a week at the same time each day, you can park the car and work from the boot. I have included some sketches and roughs to see how a painting develops and what I am looking for. Painting this way enables me to visit the area to check parts of the painting I am unsure about. At the end of the day I do use artistic licence for the sake of composition, etc.

Flooded l

Egrets I

Stealth

52 Dunlin - Current

Egrets

The sketch book

I find sketching helps me to focus on the subject and to work out the 'feeling' of the subject, its better to experiment at this stage rather than the final work, that said I do tend to change things as I am going along. I do not normally make a detailed drawing before transferring it to the board and I do not use a rubber if it doesn't look right then I don't use it rubbing out is time wasting and not necessary.

I work in al sorts of mediums. acrylic, watercolour, pen, pencil, etc.

The main purpose of these initial sketches is exploring the water ripples, I spend about 90% of the time just looking, its amazing the constant changes and textures of water.

This large sketch is exploring the way the sky. river bank and trees reflect on the water.

There are always Egrets on this stretch of the creek and capturing the different poses and balance is my prime objective, I do not try to draw each feather detail its the feel of the bird which is more important.

Greenshank's are now frequent visitors and I am determined to paint a group, they are such endearing and full of character and I like the whites on the under parts contrasting against a darker water.