Mallard Pair

I finally tackled this challenge of painting a hen. I know she's not perfect, but its the best hen I've done to date and hopefully it just gets easier. I love oil paints overall, but it is a major adjustment and learning curve from acrylics! Thanks a lot George for your advice with painting.

Delaware river school, hollow cedar.

No love huh.

the white area separating the flank from uder tail coverts is WAAY TO WIDE. Somehow, you forgot the slightly darker gray flank patch.
Either it is the lighting, or i am reading a lot of blue in the gray--What did you use to make your grays?
Discussed some of the anatomical anomalies earlier. Next season will tell the tale.
In re-looking at the second shot, you may have corrected. It appears as if you did some sort of wash on both the drake and hen.
When making the buff for the head, there is a fine line between going pink and going yellowish. I have found that a bit of titan buff and a small quantity of raw umber seems to lessen the harshness. Do not forget, there is a whitish edge that goes just aft of the bill edge, and continues under the neck--This area does not require ticking.

Thanks for the advice George. The gray was made with Burnt Umber, Ultramarine blue, White and a touch of Raw Umber. It may just be the lighting..it is a warm gray.

hey, try a little white and raw umber under the eye on the drake--It seems to really set it off!
Did you do the two to one mix first, then gently add the white and raw umber, or did you do all at one time? This might appear trivial, but the question applies to the how.

I mixed 2pts burnt umber to 1pt ultramarine blue to get the black duck black, then added some white to lighten it. It still seemed cool to me, so I put a drop of raw umber. I'm really starting to grasp the cool and warm concepts I think, but for some reason I need to add some RU to warm it up more. The drake side pockets came out pretty classic looking to older decoys. I was trying to figure out how some guys get that look to the side pocket. So I dry brushed black over the gray and then took a clean brush with a bit of thinner and spread the black out in a fanning motion. I like the way they turned out. I was aiming for the classic look that Delaware decoys are known for. The hen may be overkill, but when the oils cure and she sees a bit of action, I'm hoping for the patina to give her a nice blended look. That was the whole point of trying oils on cedar.

you did it right! have you fixed the flank, or do you not mind the overly wide white space?

I'm just leaving it as is for the moment...don't want to start an oil nightmare! This stuff gets out of hand quick! Lol. When I go to paint the next mallard pair, I'll fix this drake. Thanks George.

Now that the paint has cured, I got them weighted and floated today. Rigged up and ready for next season.