The last week of the 30/30 Challenge is approaching and I have more ideas than days left. The hard part now is to decide what to tackle.
I’ve been contemplating peacocks for a long time, especially since I have seen them wandering around the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ several times in the past year. Sometimes I dreamt about wearing a peacock feather dress. So I had to paint this Peacock Eye on Day 23 before switching to food tomorrow.
Day 23. “Peacock Eye” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled panel, 5 x 7 inches
To me, peacocks are some of the most beautiful creatures on earth. The intense colors on their iridescent bodies and feathers on male peacocks are exquisite, almost surreal. I like the notion of peacocks having so many “eyes” and being all-seeing, so they can look into the future. They have been appropriated as symbols by many cultures, religions, and rulers throughout history (not to mention NBC…). They were especially popular during the Victorian error. You can see James McNeill Whistler’s Peacock Room in its full glory at the Freer Gallery in Washington D.C.
I am fascinated by peacocks, which is why I was thrilled to discover the Hudson River Museum (HRM) was mounting a rich exhibit on the subject called Strut: The Peacock and Beauty in Art. Did any of you happen to see it? As part of the show, one room of the HRM Victorian Glenview Mansion was completely decked out with peacocks – including a full-length peacock dress like the one I was dreaming about.
I went to the opening of this gorgeous show wearing my peacock scarf, and then went back twice. This peacock feather was my souvenir from the bookstore, which I used together with a photograph of the feather, as the basis for my painting.
This peacock feather was truly a stretch subject for me for a number of reasons. The colors changed every time the feather moved, which is why a photo was extremely helpful in establishing a fixed viewpoint. After deciding on the angle you wanted to paint, it was difficult to mix the colors and almost impossible to capture the iridescence (unless you have iridescent paint, which I don’t). The way to do it is by juxtaposing lights and darks, a trial and error method.
After playing around for a while, I went to youtube.com to watch a demo video on the subject, which encouraged me to keep going (didn’t have the guts to try the fan brush). Now that I attempted a peacock feather myself, I wish the HRM show was still up so I could have studied the details of my favorite peacock feathers painted by other artists. I do remember chuckling about one artist got around this problem by painting an albino peacock! My appreciation of all the artists in the show who depicted peacocks grew by leaps and bounds today.
I want to try painting the “eye” again after the Challenge is over – and I’ll be sure to post it here.
Now it’s time to leave this exotic bird and move on to Day 24. Come back again soon!
