MATERIALS
• Acrylic paint on stretched 300gm Waterford water colour paper
• Pencil F for preliminary sketch
• Acrylic Paints: Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Titanium White, Pthalo Green, Permanent Sap Green, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Black Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre
• Brushes: I used Pro Arte Acrylic series 202 round sizes 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8
• I use an ARTtec Disposable palette and a small round palette with 10 wells
STEP ONE
Carefully draw outline shapes of each duck. Add in areas of reflection and water movements. The ducks were feeding at the time I saw them, so I added several lines in line with their bodies, but left area in front of the ducks.
STEP TWO
Carefully build the body shape and colour of the birds. For the Mallard male use the Pthalo Green to define outside and the Sap Green inside. Brush in the neck, chest and the areas on the back wing with Raw Sienna. Note the black tail and thin line indicating the wing edge. For the female, for the rear of the head, the neck, and particularly under the bill area and wing area at the rear, use Raw Umber. The female had a Dark Umber line on the head in which the eye was set. Reflections in the water were marked with Raw Sienna. Add blue lines with the Ultramarine Blue. Make sure the area in front of the ducks is clear apart from the marks of Raw Sienna. Do not touch top of painting yet.
STEP THREE
Using a medium wash of Ultramarine cover the area of water enough to allow the blue lines added in step two to still be visible.
STEP FOUR
Start with the area at the top of the picture. For the sky use Cerulean Blue and white, in pale blue melting down into very light colouring. For the land area, do a green band from Permanent Sap Green with Yellow Ochre and a foreshore in Dark Umber. Dark marks in the water around the ducks added reflections.
FINAL STEP
First I amended the land by increasing the green band and adding bushes more familiar to the broads. I changed the foreshore likewise with Raw Umber leaving the Dark Umber to indicate a ridge of earth. Next the detailing – beginning with a white shine on the head of the male, the beak detailed yellow, with an added black nostril and dark line under the beak. The eye on the Mallard was added next, a Dark Umber dot, a little round Burnt Sienna inside and a white little spot. The beak was on the water so shading in and around was added to with Burnt Sienna on the neck and around the body. The male Mallard is not white, a wash of pale Raw Sienna covered all except the neck and adjoining body section. Detail along the side and wing in Sienna and black rim to wing. The female had a pattern of Dark Umber spots along her wings with a lighter pattern section showing up on the body. The water was blue with a light coat of Ultramarine so that it indicated water movement by the ducks in their feeding. This was further indicated by marks in the water in front of the two ducks.
