Shantie's Eye

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- SOLD

Here is another chicken painting I reworked during this weekend. This is actually my third version. I thought the second version looked too contrasty, and lost the feeling of softness, which was the main feature of this portrait. I still liked the way her comb was abstracted and running off the canvas. But this piece did not seem cohesive with the rest of my chicken paintings. So, I lightened up the entire image, including the eye, comb, and background. I moved the right edge of her ear away from the canvas edge. I ran off the right edge of her comb into the background, and painted over the run off with the new layer of the background color. This obscured the edge of the comb. I enhanced the translucency of her beak, as well as the fluffiness and brightness of the feathers in the light. Now, here's my sweet Shantie, the lap chicken.

Here is how this painting transformed:
Originally, her comb was rendered more realistically, based on my photo reference I shot indoor. After applying the undertone with a wash of  Terra Rosa, I painted the chicken. Then I painted the background with transparent, muted dark purple. I liked how the underpainting of the background show through the top layer. I also liked how the fluffy feathers of her chin looked with the back lighting.

In the second version, I extended the comb to run off the top of canvas more, and erased the sharp contour of the comb at the top. I also reworked on her eye to add more contrast in value.