More Bird Paintings

Orange-breasted Sunbird (1) - 15" x 11" Amalfi Hand-made paper 90lb (or less)

Orange and Turquoise with some Ivory black, with yellows and greens in the background. Also a touch of red.

Orange-breasted Sunbird (2) - 15" x 11" Waterford Rough 140lb.

This is my favourite so far.The flower is a mixture of Quinacridone Purple (Daniel Smith), Ultramarine Violet (Rowney PV15) and Ultramarine Blue. The bird mainly Translucent Orange (Schminke PO71), Turquoise (Lukas PB16), and Prussian Blue (Graham PB27) with some Indian Yellow (Rowney PY153). There are touches of Sap Green, Ivory Black and Burnt Umber. Raw Umber in background and Sap Green for the flower stem.

Southern Gound Hornbill (1) -15" x 11"Gerstaeker No3 200gsm Not

This is the latest subject `The Southern Ground Hornbill'. What a handsome fellow - maybe to another Hornbill but otherwise..... Mainly blues, purples and oranges with Raw Umber, Burnt Umber and Ivory Black. Also some Acrylic white. Much more detailed than previous but I couldn't see how to handle him in any other way. 

Another Hornbill (2) -15" x 11" Gerstaeker No.3 200gsm Not.

I realise birds are not everyone's favourite subject but in this instance allow me to indulge my penchant for colour. They generally take from 45 mins to an hour including breaks. One good thing is that it helps me keep up the painting momentum. Also on the Facebook page you can compare how other artists tackle the subject and these include professionals, not just amateurs like me. Very instructive. A note on Gerstaeker paper. This is a cheap cellulose paper only from Great Art. www.greatart.co.uk It is very cheap bought in a large pad (65 sheets) and is even cheaper than Bockingford,  In this instance of turning out many paintings it is a budget choice rather than the £1.00 plus cost per sheet of cotton-based papers. More of a sketching paper really. You may note however that (in my opinion) the best painting is the Sunbird one on Waterford rough.