LOOSER VERSION OF JOEY

Here is how I finished this version of our cockatiel.
I started out with a loose background and drew the picture onto it after it was painted.
(See previous blog)





 First I held the picture at a diagonal and wet the heat and neck, adding yellow for the head. I waited for it to dry just a bit and added the orange cheek color, as in the first bird. After it dried, I wet the wing and tail. Still at a diagonal, I dropped blues and violets into the tail and wing colors. I was not trying to particularly stay in the lines at this point.


 Next step was to darken the yellow on the head and work on the branch while the rest was drying. I used burnt sienna and purple on the branch (same purple as used in the wing and tail.) I basically used the same technique as the branch before, just not being as careful about details.
The beak and feet are a raw sienna.

I filled in the eye with dark blue and put a bit of miskit on the crest so I could do the background more easily. I tipped the paper at a diagonal again, only the opposite direction, so the paint would flow top left to bottom right. I used cerulean and green apatite genuine. I wet the paper in sections, starting with the middle of the body. I wet the paper a good half inch or more than I planned to apply paint to keep edges soft. I applied the blue, letting it drip and move by itself because of the diagonal of the paper (it is also at a bit of a tilt so the paint moves more). I dropped in green apatite genuine here and there.

You will see a hint of branch-like shapes, very pale. Those are created by waiting until the paper has lost its sheen, and dragging a damp liner brush through the painted area.

When I was done with the midsection, I did the head area, then the lower area, being sure to leave areas of white.

When it dried, I used clean pthalo blue to emphasize sections under the chin and under the belly. Try to avoid 'OUTLINING" the bird.

Now I start to "find" the feathers. I used violet and ultramarine blue instead of grays. Using a small brush for these wing and tail feathers, wet the underside of a feather, then line it with purple and drop in bits of blue here and there. This is to avoid having a long, boring line of just one color. I underline the feather, and then soften it away with my brush on one side, leaving the other side a hard edge.

Above, I removed the miskit from the crest after all was dry. 

I may do just a little more on the upper wing feathers, but it is mostly done.