Evening in the studio.

Good evening everyone. It has been a rainy week, so it feels like it has been a perpetual evening since Monday! But as usual it has been cosy in the studio, so I don't mind what kind of weather it is outside.
I feel like I have gotten quite a lot done this week. A good week.

I like to stand and paint when I am painting my backgrounds, so this little table easel has been in use every day this week. 

I started this seagull before leaving for Beihai. The idea was right, but I felt like I painted the gull a little too big for the canvas, and it bothered me. The half realistic background was also not what I saw in my head. So I painted over this and started again.

Here is the new version. This one feels right to me. I am happy with the feeling of the background, so now it is time to take out the oil colours and paint that seagull. I like that the brushstrokes are showing so I will try and use the dry brush technique with the oil as much as possible. Let's see if I succeed.

The Avocets got quite a few layers, but none that I was happy with. So this is how it looks now. I will start again!

Then I got a new idea for an old Owl painting. I printed out the owl from my old painting on a sheet of paper and cut it out. Now I can test it against my new background while I'm painting. I think I kinda like it this simple. I will experiment with a few more ideas, and then show you what I decided.

That was it for this week. I wish you a great weekend everyone!