The March Hare never answered it in the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland. It was just a set up to, "Careful! She's stark ravin' mad!"
A quick google revealed that Lewis Carroll had no answer in the original editions. But he was constantly pestered about it and added an answer to later versions, "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!" Others have produced more clever answers over the years, although it's absurdity and not cleverness that is the point of that scene. None of that has anything to do with me other than I tried painting one. A raven that is. Writing desks have too many straight lines for me.
This painting is based on a photo by Tyler Quiring that I found on Unsplash. See Tyler's other work here. Once again, it is a small painting, just 3.5 x 8 inches to fit into my sketchbook. The bird had a nice light pattern on its feathers. Had I painted it larger, I would've had a better chance of capturing it. But I always say that. However, it was the setting I placed the raven in that led to the most changes.
Above is the first work in progress image. The background of the original photo was intentionally out of focus with a higher horizon and clouds stretching across the sky. Overall, it was a better composed image. The high horizon gave a stronger sense of the vastness of Bryce Canyon. But I wanted a more simplified cloudscape. Some dark clouds in the photo gave me the idea of a threatening clouds casting shadows across the canyon. Perhaps the raven is a harbinger of the approaching storm. I think that's a good idea that occurred too late in the process.
Cloud shadows would be best served by a higher POV that featured more of the ground plane, or a mountain range that could showcase shadows sliding across it. Note that I am trying to be a good boy, blocking in the shapes of the entire painting instead of concentrating on detail of a specific area. However, that method is to allow the checking of values and mine are all over the place. The brightness of the red rocks and canyon are turning the bird into a sort of black hole in the canvas.
Above you see my colors getting muddy as I try to dim the canyon a bit. The sky gets a little darker near the cloud. I played with the idea that a towering thunderhead rising out of frame is casting its shadow on the other clouds.
It was time to fuss with the raven and tried to fix its legs. I also really committed to the dark clouds but, composition-wise, they are now fighting the bird. On the good side, I managed to mute the background closer to where it should be. The dark color on the horizon is too dark and saturated. That hurts the illusion of distance. You can see I tied down the shapes of the landscape which helped.
Taking stock of where I was, I looked back at the photo. I considered that stretching the clouds across the page would help a lot. Here's the final painting again.
As often is the case, I got to the point where I had to stop because the colors were getting muddy. This is more of a problem with me and how I use it than it is with gouache. However, gouache is water soluble. If you aren't careful, later layers can activate earlier layers. I know a cleaner bit of sky along the horizon would create the idea that the storm is more localized to the location of the viewer. I added some light to the canyon walls near the center that added interest and suggested a slight break in the clouds.
The end result is okay. I stare at it now and see little changes I could do that would make big differences. But I learned which is always the point of these things. It's much better than what I was turning out almost a year and a half ago and people have been kind with their comments.
I'm taking too long between paintings. This was done a month ago. I always seem to find an excuse not to start another. How did I get two movie poster assignments decades ago yet am fearful of messing up a page in my sketchbook? But I did make a drawing on the next page, so I'm close.
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