Painting in progress - Peregrines at Black Rocks

I started to layout and paint this piece back in Spring 2005. Due to my ups and downs with Fibromyalgia and what not, it gradually moved to the back on the pile and has been waiting for me to get back to it.

So starting at the beginning...

On a cold icy day back in 2005, January 23rd to be exact, I went out on a circular walk which covered the Cromford area of the Peak District and took me around the farmlands and over to the Black Rocks. Of course, as always, I took lots of photographs including references for my backgrounds.

This is one of those photographs, of which I decided to use as my background for a painting that I wanted to do depicting wildlife in Derbyshire.

I haven't as yet spotted any peregrines during my walks into the Peak District but have read many articles about them being there. So my 'models' of peregrines are found from the range of birds of prey photographs I have taken over the years; the peregrine photographs captured at various bird stands, sanctuaries and parks. I will be turning to many of these when I finally start to work on the ones in my painting.

After priming the canvas, I sketched the black rocks background onto the canvas and decided where I wanted my birds to be. Then I laid several light washes of ultramarine, alizarine crimson hue and chroma white acrylics for the sky. I began working on the background and the foreground trees and gave a light wash of grey over the rocks. And then I put it away.

Until now that is :)

I decided to get back to this one today and after giving it a quick clean I began to lay in several light washes again for the sky, using the same colours as before.

After I was happy with that, I began to work more on the background and worked over the foreground sketch in paint to make it easier to see. Then I stopped but haven't put it away this time :)

Another update soon - this is the painting so far -

 

I'm hoping that I can achieve a similar end result to my painting of the buzzard at Lover's Leap in Dovedale that I painted in 2006.