I wasn't happy with the flatness on the upper chest of the female. My paint had dried before salt could react on it. So I put another layer of paint on it and used some popcorn salt, and it reacted just fine the second time.
To separate the feathers, use a gray, and with a small brush, outline the feathers, then use water to soften them on the bottom edge. (I made this gray from ultramarine and burnt sienna).
The eyes: the eyes have a lighter rim around them. If you look very closely, you have the outer rim, a medium brown, then dark black, then white highlight. But since it's so small, I skipped the medium brown, did a black center, then, when dry, added a tiny highlight with gouache or white ink.
(Hint: you can add these tiny details with black watercolor pencil dipped in water. Sometimes my hands shake too much for tiny details with a brush, and I resort to watercolor pencil for control)
For the red cardinal, add at least another layer of reds, but don't try to go too dark too fast. You are building up layers, so be patient. Use your transparent pyrrol orange to warm up areas that are too cool; use alizarin to cool off areas that might be too warm. Aim for some roundness in the belly area.
On both birds, think of them as being two round balls, a small for the head and a large for the breast area. Think about shading them as you would a ball, only a soft fuzzy one. They will read much better, instead of looking flat.
Separate the wings in the same manner as the female, only use darker gray or even blue or purple to separate the wing feathers. Pay attention to the roundness and softness of the shoulder, the short feathers next, then the longer flight feathers. Separate the tail feathers.
Lift any areas that need to be lighter or come forward.
For the black mask, I wet the area and wet just beyond where I want the black to go. You can make a black or use a tube black or paynes gray. Apply the paint around the beak first, making a nice hard line against the beak. Then gently spread the black to the outer part of the mask, and let the water move the paint into the wet areas. It should create a softer edge where the black and red feathers meet.
(see the above picture)
For the berries, treat groups as one shape. Underpaint them with coral or transparent pyrrol orange. When they dry, separate shapes with alizarin crimson. For deeper shadows, add some purple to your alizarin. The contrast of the dark and light red shapes will make the berries look more transparent.
For the leaves, underpaint all with a layer of yellow or green gold. When that dries, use a blue to paint areas that will show bends in the leaves. (shadowed) When that dries, use a darker green to paint over the entire leaf, leaving the very thin middle line of the leaf. (It will show yellow at this point) When dry, use clean water to blush over the leaf, including the line. This will make the middle of the leaf blend in better. If you want to lift some highlights, wait until it is completely dry, and lift a few highlights.
The stem is a color called rose of ultramarine, but you can make it by adding magenta to your purple. Wet the stem, then add the color at the bottom, letting the color rise to the top of the stem. When it dries, make sure the bottom is darker than the top to make it appear round. Also, make the leaves look attached to the stem. You can just wet the bottom of the leaf and drag some of the color into the stem where it attaches.
If you want to make the female bird's breast feel fuzzier, you can try using small strokes of white pastel pencil or white General's pencil. You can also try stroking some white pastel over areas to emphasize the soft feel. But these things should be done AFTER all the other painting is done.
For blogs about negative painting the leaves, a lesson from a few weeks ago, see below:
beginning the leaf painting
Finishing leaves, June 2016
some youtubes explaining negative painting
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