Duke Garden’s Duck Painting

When I visited the Duke Garden’s last week on a spring flowers photo expedition I ended up snapping a few of some ducks too. There are always a lot of friendly ducks at the gardens, they get fed a lot.

I’m not sure if I’m done with it or not. I might add in a few highlights or something at a later date…and will probably finish the reflection in the water.

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Update April 5th 2010: I did improve the reflection in the water. The first version was too flat, but I had to stop at that point and wait for another day to improve it because the colors were threatening to get muddy. Here is the before and after:

And here is the new finished version. This one’s color is actually more true to life. It depends on what time of day I take the picture. Daylight is better than artificial light.

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This is the photo that inspired the painting. It’s not the best photos that inspire the best paintings…it’s the ones you connect to. I certainly had much better photos from that trip, but I really liked this guy. He looks peaceful.