{"id":355,"date":"2015-06-18T16:59:01","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T15:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/?p=355"},"modified":"2025-10-14T10:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T09:11:20","slug":"puffin-painting-in-oils-stage-by-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/puffin-painting-in-oils-stage-by-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Puffin Painting in Oils, Stage by Stage."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We recently took a boat trip to wonderful <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welshwildlife.org\/nature-reserves\/skomer-island-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Skomer Island<\/a>, an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, here in west Wales. Skomer is known as one of the best places to see <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/?title=Puffin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">puffin<\/a>&nbsp;worldwide,&nbsp;and we weren&#8217;t disappointed; there was literally 10&#8217;s of thousands of nesting pairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suitably inspired, I&#8217;ve been busy painting puffins ever since, using some of our photographs taken on our Skomer&nbsp;island trip for reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below are stages of my first puffin painting, as it progressed from start to finish:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1) Here is the photograph I chose to work from for this painting, taken by fellow&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wild-impressions.co.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">artist and puffin enthusiast Karen Neal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_photographs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_photographs.jpg\" alt=\"puffin photograph\" class=\"wp-image-379\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_photographs.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_photographs-300x211.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Photograph&nbsp;courtesy&nbsp;of Karen Neal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2) First, I had to&nbsp;work out a composition and make a mock-up of my planed layout. I did that using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gimp.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GIMP<\/a> ( a free software program similar to photoshop ) to clone a dark area of the background, and continued it across in an elongated shape to match the canvas that I already had in mind for this painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting2.jpg\" alt=\"puffin painting mock up\" class=\"wp-image-358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting2-300x132.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Dark background put in using GIMP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3) Once I&#8217;d worked out the composition, and painted the whole canvas with black acrylic paint, I just printed out my puffin mock-up image on a piece of A4 photo paper, using my ordinary inkjet printer, and worked from that image to paint what you can see here, in oils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting31.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"543\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting31.jpg\" alt=\"puffin_painting3\" class=\"wp-image-708\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting31.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting31-300x204.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">First stage of the painting done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4) After a little refining and a few more hours work I had what you can see below. Now, I was pretty happy with the Puffin, and fairly happy with the rocky area that it was standing on, but what worried me was the big blank area on the right. I hadn&#8217;t planned to paint anything in there, the idea being to leave it completely black, but after some reflection I decided to add another couple of smaller flying puffins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"398\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting4.jpg\" alt=\"puffin paintings\" class=\"wp-image-360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_painting4-300x149.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Black area on right looking a little empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5) Here is the finished painting, with the extra flying puffins added. I think the extra puffins flying in to join the other one works really well, and I&#8217;m very happy with the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_paintings_5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_paintings_5.jpg\" alt=\"puffin painting\" class=\"wp-image-584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_paintings_5.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/puffin_paintings_5-300x148.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Extra puffins added &#8211; Finished painting, 100cm by 50cm, oil on box canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This painting will be available soon at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welshwildlife.org\/visit\/welsh-wildlife-centre-teifi-marshes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Welsh Wildlife Centre<\/a> in Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire &#8211; Telephone: 01239 621600<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I look forward to hearing what you think of this puffin painting in the comments below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy painting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chris<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We recently took a boat trip to wonderful Skomer Island, an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, here in west [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,11,56,57,5],"class_list":["post-355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-studio","tag-oil-painting","tag-painting-in-wales","tag-puffin-painting","tag-puffin-paintings","tag-welsh-paintings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5608,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions\/5608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}