Steve Sanford
Well-known member
All~
I just posted a TUTORIAL on my website about painting Common Eiders. I painted a pair of Homer Eiders to work out the process. They will become part of Craig Kessler's sea duck rig.
Member Bob Mitchell carved the masters. He made painting easy by carving in all of the major areas of color - so layout is simple.
The full tale - with lots more photos and information - is at: https://stevenjaysanford.com/tutorial-painting-homer-eiders/
An ocean not being handy, "sea trials" were conducted on our frog pond right behind the house:
I have only hunted Eiders once - with member Troy Fields in Maine a couple of Decembers ago (see http://www.duckboats.net/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=256855;search_string=maine;#256855 ). But, I have always loved to read about the gunning amongst the rocky isles of the Maine Coast and the Canadian Maritimes. One of my favorite wildlife artists - Bruno Liljefors of Sweden - has painted this fine fowl numerous times.
Last spring, member Mark Johnson and I worked out some of the paint on these big "shadows".
Here are the Behr latex paints I used.
Thanks to Troy Fields, I had good in-the-hand photos for reference.
The bill lobes here are painted with the pale Olive GINGKO TREE - the color I use for Hen Black Duck bills..
First, though, I used CURRY POWDER - the color I use for Drake Mallard and Black Duck bills.
Do Skunkhead Coot envy the Eider his crown ?
The base color of the Hens is ANCIENT ROOT - just enough of a russet cast.
The trick with the Hens is to vary the dark barring over the body. The barring is ESPRESSO BEANS - what I use for Black Duck bodies (and lots of other jobs).
The pale patches on the Hen's face are COLLECTIBLE - which plays a big role on my Hen Mallards.
Hope this helps,
SJS
I just posted a TUTORIAL on my website about painting Common Eiders. I painted a pair of Homer Eiders to work out the process. They will become part of Craig Kessler's sea duck rig.
Member Bob Mitchell carved the masters. He made painting easy by carving in all of the major areas of color - so layout is simple.
The full tale - with lots more photos and information - is at: https://stevenjaysanford.com/tutorial-painting-homer-eiders/
An ocean not being handy, "sea trials" were conducted on our frog pond right behind the house:
I have only hunted Eiders once - with member Troy Fields in Maine a couple of Decembers ago (see http://www.duckboats.net/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=256855;search_string=maine;#256855 ). But, I have always loved to read about the gunning amongst the rocky isles of the Maine Coast and the Canadian Maritimes. One of my favorite wildlife artists - Bruno Liljefors of Sweden - has painted this fine fowl numerous times.
Last spring, member Mark Johnson and I worked out some of the paint on these big "shadows".
Here are the Behr latex paints I used.
Thanks to Troy Fields, I had good in-the-hand photos for reference.
The bill lobes here are painted with the pale Olive GINGKO TREE - the color I use for Hen Black Duck bills..
First, though, I used CURRY POWDER - the color I use for Drake Mallard and Black Duck bills.
Do Skunkhead Coot envy the Eider his crown ?
The base color of the Hens is ANCIENT ROOT - just enough of a russet cast.
The trick with the Hens is to vary the dark barring over the body. The barring is ESPRESSO BEANS - what I use for Black Duck bodies (and lots of other jobs).
The pale patches on the Hen's face are COLLECTIBLE - which plays a big role on my Hen Mallards.
Hope this helps,
SJS
