Frogs

Little Frog Painting Part Finished

/ davidrpharmer / 2 Comments

Little Frog Part Finished

Well, we are about half way with the study of the little frog, photographed on his leaf in the wetlands of the Danube Delta. We saw some really impressive examples of wildlife that day, but the frog and his colony were the only ones interested in keeping still for the camera!

I started with my foundation mix of raw sienna and Naples yellow, across the whole sheet of paper. I let that go hard overnight, and worked in a pale green around the frog, in a patchy manner to simulate hopefully the puddles on the leaf surface. The green was mixed from Antwerp blue and Cadmium Yellow.

This becomes a glazing exercise with each coat going rock hard overnight. I don’t use a hair dryer myself unless I’m in a hurry. I prefer the paint to dry naturally so that the paper goes back to its original shape

I used the same green over the frog, twice. After that cadmium yellow followed by burnt sienna, and by that time I am trying to get some texture and shadow into the frog’s surface, I was hoping to see some granulation going on, but very little happening as yet

I shall continue building up the shadow with some dark brown, and that will contribute to the final result

The exhibition at the Royal Surrey Hospital is finished, and the results are in. I have sold five paintings which is a result. The ones in question are Bosham harbour and Church, Wild Horses of the Camargue, the Venice painting of San Giorgio Maggiore with Gondola, Fishing Boats of Beer and RHS Wisley Gardens

I think without checking that these are in my gallery

Pleased with that after such a poor start to the year

The Little Green Frog, starting the drawing

/ davidrpharmer / 2 Comments

Little Frog

Something completely different to architecture this time, so really not sure how it will end up

You may remember that I posted the photograph of the frog a few weeks back, just after getting back from our trip down the Danube. We had been out in the wetlands of the Danube Delta to look at the fabulous wildlife there. Most of it was exotic, but moving too fast for photography, well at least my standard of photography anyway

The pelican were fascinating. We don’t have them in the UK, so watching them feed was very intriguing They seem to cooperate with the cormorants, who dive deep, which drives the fish to the surface, whereupon the pelican scoop them up in their elastic shopping bag of a beak

I just could not get a picture of them doing that which is a shame , because that would have made a really good subject for a painting. All I had time to photograph was my friend the frog. Actually there were colonies of them, basking in the intense heat and humidity, each one on a lily leaf. They did not seem in the least perturbed by the small boat gliding through the leaves, so very kindly posed for a picture

It will be interesting working out which colours to use on this painting. A background mix of raw sienna and Naples yellow as an undercoat, I think, and maybe a very pale green glaze , after this has gone hard. There will be some masking out of small details like feet, as the green round the frog will have to be darkened. The other colours will possibly be burnt sienna and burnt umber, which I will decide when I have seen the initial glazes.

The exhibition is still on at the Royal Surrey Hospital, with just another week to run. I have sold two to date, namely the painting of RHS Wisley Gardens and Bosham Harbour and Church. The latter is actually going home to Bosham as it is a wedding present for someone getting married in the church in the picture, which is rather nice. Also someone has promised to send their cheque in for one of the Venice paintings but that is only a pledge at the moment.

Would be nice to have one more. but two is respectable out of twelve paintings entered

From Budapest to the Danube Delta

/ davidrpharmer / 2 Comments

DSCF3796

The small green frog basking on a lily leaf somewhere in the wetlands of the Danube delta, posed quite happily as our small boat brushed by. All through this trip I have had an eye out for painting ideas, and I thought he would work well, so when I have recovered from the journey and settled back in, I might try painting him. There won’t be time for the exhibition starting on the 12th, but there is another local exhibition on the 29th which I might like to have something for

There were other things which were interesting, beautiful Hungarian horses which are half Arab, which we watched being put through their paces by the cowboys. This was near Mohacs out on the plains. The cattle were fantastic too, huge with long horns. One bare back rider controlled a team of nine horses standing on the rump of the last two, which was amazing, more like a circus act. Because of the distance from the rider to the front row of horses, they have to respond to the voice which means learning the language of the horse, a lifetimes work, I would imagine

Mohacs Team of 9 (3)

Amazing sight, and might make a dramatic painting. I also took some shots of the ubiquitous stork nesting on the tops of telegraph poles, which are always amusing. We don’t have storks wild in the UK, well certainly not nesting like that, so we find them interesting

Just going back to the delta for a moment, we went there to see pelicans, which we certainly did, but not near enough to photograph. Plenty in the air and also landing but none would pose. Cormorants, swan and egret too. We were taken to the feeding grounds of these birds, and were told about the ingenious cooperation between the cormorant and the pelican. The cormorant dives for fish as you know, which causes the fish to surface where they are scooped up by the pelican in their elastic shopping bag beaks

The architecture and landscape would provide some good subjects but to be thought about. Three capitals, Budapest, Belgrade and Bucharest plus various smaller older towns, as well as the famous Iron Gorge with its stupendous scenery, all offer possibilities

To be considered