Wildlife painting demonstration - the colony

Step 1

I have spent at least 7 hours a week for the last couple of months watching sand martins on a low cliff above a busy beach in Cornwall. I pass the beach on the way to taking my daughter to school. The board was prepared and then coated with a mid blue. then rough colours added with a succumbing action in several layers.


Step 2

I layered the sky with ultramarine and cadmium yellow taking care not to turn it green but to have a summer glow.
I concentrate on the top layer of the bank where the birds rework last years holes. The top is soil so softer than the gravely layer below. over time they have created a ledge above this layer.


Step 3
I continued to work the grass and some of the cliff face, the sunlight is strong and fairly loz so i will be darkening so areas later. The birds are constaantly comming too and frow so I vary the size of the martins and the direction of the flight. Two birds are completed.

Step 4

The grass has been worked to ensure the bright morning light hits the top section. Many of the birds are in shaddow with the light catching parts of the birds. The cliff has small stones jutting out of the sandy soil. I hope this conveys the busyness of a Sand martin colony,