Mallard study

Anas platyrhynchos

Mallard study                                                 enlarge

Acrylic on Board 2000

4 x 6 ins

private collection

A small acrylic bird painting of a mallard drake.

This is a postcard size study done quite quickly and

without any underlying pencil drawing. The duck was

sketched in with a fine pointed brush using thinned 

cobalt blue paint. The shapes and tones were applied

roughly allowing the unifying blue to show through.

The head of the mallard is an iridescent bottle green 

but in some lights can appear to be blue.

A certain amount of white paint was mixed with the

grey-green for the water making it look slightly murky

and opaque. You can clearly see the texture of the

gesso primed board which I think gives character to the

artwork.

This painting was used as a preliminary study for a more 

finished watercolour version.

A signed card of this painting is available  click here

Realism Painting

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