Day #4 -- "White Duck" -- oil on canvas -- 30x40" -- Margie Guyot

This is day #4 of working on this painting. I'd been unable to get into my studio last week, due to a number of urgent tasks. And I had a house full of guests all weekend. Soon as they left this afternoon, I made a beeline out into the studio, turned on the radio to "Prairie Home Companion" and started in.

This was our 3rd day of bright sunshine here in the Traverse City/Charlevoix area, and it was quite a change to see my setup in actual sunlight. So I tried taking advantage of it to bring out a bit more definition in the shadows and highlights. Added the stems of the chinese lanterns (and their corresponding shadows). I was seeing portions of the white paper being backlit, so I added those changes. The glass vase was showing a lot of sparkle, so I spent a little time on that as well. Started adding a bit of the print detail in the yellow scarf. Played with the feathers a bit and added the duck's eye.

I took a short break and went back into the house for a couple minutes. When I went to the door, there were 3 deer out in the front yard, chewing on corn. The snow's about knee-deep here and they're having a hard time finding food. Soon they bounded off and I went back in to the studio.