Thursday 20 June 2013

Summer Corncrake

Rainbow corncrake

The Rainbow Corncrake is unfortunately not a newly discovered bird, It is my entry into this weeks Summer of Color. I have changed the colours a wee bit to fit with the hot pink and orange combination needed for the challenge.

This piece is actually a re-cycled floorboard collage/acrylic painting (76cmx23cm) which I have just finished for the annual Skye summer exhibition at the Skyeworks gallery on the beautiful Isle of Skye. The exhibition starts in August so I have been busy trying to finish a few pieces.

                                                 
File:Corncrake (Crex crex).jpg
Corncrake
                                          

 The Corncrake is a rare and reclusive bird living and nesting in the open grassland and heather.It makes a rather distinctive and strangled cry which is very distinctive! It has several names in Scottish and local folk history such as "Landrail" "Corn Scrack" and "Quailzie";This little corncrake started  life like this. ( The weather was so beautiful when I was working on it I took my easel outside!)



As you can see it did begin life with a little croft house in the distance, but as the collage progressed I covered it over as I wasn't happy with it as I felt it distracted from the Corncrake, who is after all the main star of the show! The colours here are true to life, golds, pinks, purple and orange.



Small pieces of Handmade Jelli printed  and mulberry papers make up the heather covered landscape.
The Corncrake is painted with Acrylics and then given a crackle glaze to sit her nicely in her surroundings.




The foreground of horsetails stands proud of the surface with a lovely textural feel.



And here it is in its true colours 'Summer Corncrake'

Links also as usual to Paint Party Friday

As well as the summer of color!

49 comments:

  1. Fabulous!
    I used to hear corncrakes when we visited Ireland but I never managed to see one!

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  2. Love, love your painting with the Corncrake! It is so full of light and vibrant colors. Hugs - Erika

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  3. Gorgeous painting, I really love the altered one with the pink and orange but then I'm a sucker for fluorescent colours :D

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  4. I love the way her muted colors look agains the rainbow of colors in the background. Blessings!

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  5. Wonderful work. Love your corncrake - never heard of him before, but it's a pretty bird. Your background is lovely, too Valerie

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  6. Absolutely gorgeous, Morag! I'm sure your participation in the show will be a success. I, for one, would love to see your work in real life one day!

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  7. What a beautiful, dimensional painting! So much great color and texture. It's bigger than I first realized too. I love both versions.

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  8. Corncrake is beautiful, and I love how you made your page around him! Such a lovely and creative page!

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  9. WOW, wonderful to learn about Corncrake :). And the painting is gorgeous, you'd captured the beauty of the heather fields :).

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  10. Beautiful vibrant and rich with depth. Very nice job!!

    Hugs Giggles

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  11. gorgeous - I loved the reveal effect as I scrolled down the post

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  12. This is such a beautiful collage - though I thought it was a painting when I saw it. You make such lovely collages. I think this is one of my favourites of all you have made and shown on your blog.
    The colours are so rich and deep, and even though the format is vertical you have such a feeling of space and depth. Wonderful. Good luck with the exhibition.

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  13. This is glorious, so love the colours.

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  14. This is gorgeous! Love the colours

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  15. I love the gorgeous colors in your bird painting. I had never heard of a corncrake.

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  16. This is so beautiful! I love how you made up the landscape with brightly coloured papers.

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  17. AWESOME!!! Love the elongated canvas and composition!
    ♥♥♥
    Happy PPF!!
    Mary
    Mixed-Media Map Art

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  18. I think this is favourite piece of yours so far. I'd never heard of a corncrake -it's colouring reminds me a wee bit of a female pheasant. I really love the floorboard as a canvas and the colours and perspective in the hills behind the bird are beautiful. good luck with the exhibition.

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  19. such a beautiful painting-and isn't it fun to change out colors sometimes? I've heard about the Isle of Skye. Scotland's def. on my bucket list. I want to see the Mull of Kintyre(sp?) too-just because of Paul McCartney :)

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  20. Wow..what a divine beauty...I love her colorful spirit ..the whole painting is magical and full of wonderful energy and life blooming...gorgeous intensity!! I have never heard of this bird..I am so glad to know it now!Your easel looks so magical..
    Wishing you a beautiful summer..thanks for sharing your enchanting world of art!
    Hugs
    Victoria

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  21. FAbulous! I just love the mix of color and texture! HPPF!

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  22. Awesome, stunning, beautiful bird you made. I love the painting and the colors are so vivid.
    xx

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  23. Gorgeous - in it's original and altered colors. That's a beautiful bird (which I never heard of before!) HPPF

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  24. This tuned out so beautifully and I really liked seeing it on the easel so we could see the scale of it ... looks great xx

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  25. Absolutely beautiful - I love the composition of the piece. I think the original colours are probably what I prefer but you'd done a brilliant job changing them for SOC. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog - hope you have a great week.

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  26. Wonderful patterns and great color!!!

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  27. Just fabulous, I love it! Love also that you painted it outdoors, seems like so much fun!! <3

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  28. Absolutely gorgeous! A favorite of mine in all I've come across so far. Just beautiful, that golden colorful background and pale blue sky...wow I love it all so much, bravo!

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  29. ah! so beautiful, morag! you fit so many colors onto one painting. 'paper rainbow' is right!!!

    happy summer days to you, sweet woman...

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  30. I love this beautiful piece so much.... the colours, the textures and the corncrake are wonderful.

    Karen x

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  31. Stunning piece! I love all the textures and how the Corncrake stands out!

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  32. Very beautiful work. I am so glad that I have discovered your blog.

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  33. lovely painting. I also like the original layered colours of the moorland in the original photo of the easel. Skye must be a lovely inspiring place to live..good luck in the exhibition..lovely work

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  34. Oh my gosh. This is glorious. Truly beautiful work, Love the colours and textures and everything! Stunning piece.

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  35. Hi,
    thank you so much for visiting my site and leaving your wonderful comment.
    Your art is so beautiful, I love the colour use !!!
    Have a great day.

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  36. Oh Morag, this is a stunning work! I feel like I am looking at a beautiful quilted hillside. I think using crackle paint on your bird is an awesome idea. I have crackle paint and rarely use it because I never know what to put it on. I always think of it for floors or furniture, which I rarely paint. Not anymore! Thanks for the inspiration!!

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  37. What a deeply layered and wonderful textured work!!! and those BOLD colors! Truely amazing your piece and the best background such lovely bird can find ♥ Conny
    http://piaromsartjournaling.blogspot.de

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  38. WOW, such wonderful texture....and colours !

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  39. Beautiful beautiful work!

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  40. Gosh ~ how beautiful! So many pretty things to look at here. Lovely.
    Wishing you a very happy week!

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  41. I love how you've used a floorboard and made it into such a beautiful object! The colours and textures are so beautiful! Am a not a follower of yours? I shall have to remedy that forthwith! ;) xx

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  42. The corncrake is such a beautiful little bird and you have made it look wonderful. I love the colours and it's great to see how the painting progressed. Just wonderful.
    Von.

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  43. I really like both versions of the piece! the corncrake is beautiful- I had never heard of this bird before. good luck with your exhibition!

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  44. Fabulous! Love the texture and colors. :)

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  45. Awe, so much to love here! I love the size of your substrate, all that lovely texture and of course the color really sings. Good luck with the exhibition, I'm sure it will be a tremendous success, xoxo

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  46. This is stunning, I love it so much! The bird stands out beautifully againt the blanket of colour behind :)

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  47. I love your corncrake, have not heard of this little bird. Betty

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