Humboldt Penguins

The bank holiday weekend has provided me with some extra painting time, which I have used to paint this pair of adorable penguins. I was able to gather some excellent reference at Marwell Zoo last year. The penguins were running around the enclosure, swimming and preening. I will be able to create several compositions using this wide variety of poses.
What I love about Penguins is that they are incredibly comical, especially the way they waddle after each other with wings outstretched. This character will form the basis of a future painting, but for this one I wanted something a little cosier; a protective male looking after his mate. Humboldt Penguins have lovely colouring. The black feathers have a red-brown sheen around the face and back, which changes to a blue sheen on the wings. I had to layer brown underneath black paint, and then drop water onto the black to allow the brown to show through on highlighted areas. This red-brown is also mirrored in their eye colour, which I made really crisp with the addition of a white highlight.
What I enjoyed the most was dropping little black spots onto their bellies! Such a cute little feature of this penguin.
What I would really like to collect is some Rockhopper Penguin reference. Rockhoppers have an amazing 'haircut' of spiky yellow feathers above their eyes. I could paint endless pictures of them! There is a resident Rockhopper at London Zoo but as the viewing platform is above the penguins, it's not a great place for photography. Best start saving for a trip to the Sub-Antarctic!