Sunday 9 November 2014

Back to Birds

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.

4 comments:

Linda Roth said...

This parrot is gorgeous Peter. He is flying. You captured the movement beautifully. I love your loose use of the paint in the background. This is a very happy painting, a real success.

Ray Maclachlan Art said...

You should be pleased with the result Peter, it is well painted. Clear colours, and lots of movement in the background make the whole painting alive.

Peter Ward said...

Thanks Linda. The colours and movement attracted me to this one.

Peter Ward said...

Thanks Ray as always.