The Beauty That Sleeps – Peacock Painting

“The Beauty That Sleeps” – Vertical Design of Peacock Painting by Nicole Barker

Finally finished. I’ve been working on and off on my peacock painting for almost a year, but decided in the last week to push to complete it. I started this work as more of a challenge than anything else. I wanted to challenge what I could technically do in Photoshop. This is easily the most detailed piece I’ve ever worked on. I found the that the feathery tail took me the longest to finish, but the neck and head was the most difficult to conceptualize. The angle and perspective made it quite challenging. With every piece I learn a lot about my subject matter. Peacocks are breathtakingly beautiful, and I wanted to know much more about them. I didn’t necessarily aim for the image to be photo realistic, but I found myself getting immersed in the minute details. I wanted to draw every strand of every feather, and believe me there were a lot of feathers in the piece, probably in the tens of thousands. I was starting to see feathers in my sleep!

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