I haven't painted any birds for several months and I do enjoy painting them. This week I was prompted to do so and this is my latest attempt for the Facebook page `Paint Colorful Birds For Fun'.
Parrakeet - 16" x 12" Centenaire (Great Art own brand) 140lb (300gsm) not
This was done using a guide photo on my ipad. The attraction was twofold, movement and great colours.
The blues used were Phalo Blue (Maimeri PB15-3 Green Shade), Ultramarine Blue (PB29), Cobalt Teal Blue (Daniel Smith PG50 ) and Cerulean (Daler Rowney PB36). The red was a mixture of Quinacridone Coral (Daniel Smith PR209), Quinacridone Rose (Graham PV19) and a touch of Permanent Carmine (W& N PR N/A). The surrounding colours comprised mixtures of Phalo Green (Maimeri PG7),. Apatite Green (Daniel Smith), Translucent Brown (Schminke PBr41) plus some Raw Umber and Burnt Umber. I think that's it.
I first made a loose pencil drawing using a Pentel 07 2B mechanical pencil, then painted the head moving outwards. The surrounding area was painted simultaneously rather than afterwards. After it was all fully dry I added a few small marks to define things a little better. I did put a small amount of masking fluid (Pebeo) on the head area. I did splash the paint in the surrounding area to avoid too tight a result.
I only used two brushes, the Isabey retractable No.6 and a Rosemary No 6 retractable Kolinsky. The Isabey, while called a 6 is actually very slim and considerably smaller than the Rosemary 6 but good for detail.
Overall I was quite pleased with the result.