The Day’s Change
Acrylic Paint, Palette Knives, Canvas.
24”x36”
The eagle was done for fundraising project, where a girl was paralyzed in a freak accident & as a group, we tried to raise some money to help her family. I had a great reference photo at the time, I think it came from a calendar. The eagle soars through a change of day, reflected in the colours of the background changing as they progress. This piece was done entirely with a palette knife & acrylic paint, simple building of layers, with the focus on the texture. I didn’t want to create an immense amount of detail, more the suggestion of it. The background was completed first, covering the whole canvas so that the texture would appear in the wings. At the time it seemed entirely natural to do it this way, & I went with the inspiration. There was a point when I wanted to throw it off the hill, frisbee style, but my mum encouraged me to persevere. When I finally tip-toed my way around the eye & got that little notch at his mouth just right, it all started to come together. Once over that hump I was able to move confidently through the process. I really like the feet & tail area; the colours, the essence of what they are is there, & I was able to unify them with the head. I really had to manipulate my angles, coming in from all sides & points with my palette knives. I love working with them, & acrylics are great for that. This was a quick piece, relatively, over a period of two days, maybe three. The texture in this piece was important to me & it really looks good in person. Again, I like using bright colours, & the contrast between the black & the colours gives it a sense of movement & life.
