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Sunday, July 26, 2015

An Elegant Bird ... or ... Step by Step Painting of an Ameraucana Hen

My drawing with scribbled notes made as I go along in painting.

First, a this wash of quin. burnt orange ...

... some permanent rose ...

... and finally some cobalt blue.

I painted the bright head and neck feathers with quin. sienna.  Body shadows were done with a mix of quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone blue. The legs were painted with a mixture of the same orange and blue, but with permanent rose in lieu of violet- it seemed to give a colder, harder-looking black, which I wanted for the feet.

More quin. sienna, wet in wet, over the front of her body, and some fluff around her beak painted in a soft black. I think the beard is one of the characteristics of this breed.

I did more work with the feathers of her body, using quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone to make both a soft brown and a black.

More work on the feathers ...

... and I believe she is pretty much done.
I painted almost the entire work in a wet-in-wet technique. I wanted to keep her feathers looking softer and fluffier [and I had no desire to render each individual feather!] 

I was more ambitious [or foolish] with this hen I painted about ten years ago. She was sent off to Washington state to be part of a charity auction for a horse rescue group.

Life has been somewhat rough lately, and I haven't felt like blogging or painting much. Seems to be improving, so I hope to be able to post about once a week.

Thank you so much for dropping by!