Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Listen

Listen to your whisper......
There was something I wanted to tell you about
painting hair and bird watching.
Have you heard the expression,
"her hair looks like a bird's nest?"
The other day as I was watching Lady Cardinal's
magnificent nest building progress,
that expression came to mind.
It was during the painting of the first of this series
of Castle Towers.
And I was painting hair.
I thought about how Lady Cardinal first laid down a blanket of dried leaves. And how I had laid down a solid blanket of color as the first step. And then she added a layer of dried course plant stems of various varieties. I laid down some course strokes of other colors in the highlight area of her hair.
The next time I visited the nest, just before the first egg, and when the nest building was finished, there was a layer of very fine dried material. I was amazed to discover there is some blueprint somewhere that she was following. The layers were deliberate.
Then I added very fine strokes of the lightest and darkest colors where the hair was closest to me. (not all over) Then I knew I was finished.
And that is how I paint hair.
Like a bird's nest.
******
Listen to your whisper is another 8 x 10 on canvas board and I will be listing it soon as I can. Now, I have work to do.
Expect,
Sharon
ps...I think if you click on the picture you can better see the hair painting.

11 comments:

  1. Sharon, this is fascinating! Love the hair you paint and the bird's nest building....isn't it neat that the methods are so similar? You have a good day and keep an eye on Lady Cardinal. Take care and try to avoid the heat! Pat

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  2. Love her and her expression is great!

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  3. Love it Sharon, fantastic.

    Love Renee xooxxo

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  4. Your anology is wonderful.. I love it.
    You must go to our wild women picture on my blog and see one of our wild women's hair!!!!
    it's really inspiring - I could see you doing a painting from that hair do. Janet is the one in black with the blond wind swept hair in branches.
    scroll down a bit to find the wild women pictures..
    www.anotherartfullday.blogspot.com

    enjoy, linda

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  5. great art..my wavy hair is often like a birds nest!!

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  6. Great way to tell the story...how lucky you are to have a front seat to the Cardinal nest building.
    Lovely hair style.

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  7. What a wonderful comparison from real life to art. Your mind never stops working - great!!! Thank you for sharing.

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  8. I think it wonderful how art and nature always go hand in hand.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  9. Hi Sharon........I loved the hair bird nest analogy.
    Thanks,
    LuAnn in Oregon
    http://luannkessi.blogspot.com/

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  10. Hi Sharon,
    You are incredible and so is your ART! I'm always inspired when I have an opportunity to come by and visit.
    Hope you have a wonderful day!
    Blessings,
    Sandy

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  11. So pretty and the mat is appreciated...Sizes so vary here in Scandinavia...

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