MATERIALS
Canvas: underpainted in leftover colours from palette Paints: Atelier Interactive
Acrylics: Paynes Grey, Burnt Umber, Titanium White, Yellow Light, Cadmium Red. Assorted brushes
STEP ONE
I roughly painted my canvas by using up remaining paints from a previous painting in earthy tones. I rubbed out some areas and added more paint into sections and left any marks that will represent the dry earth and twigs etc. As I do not intend to paint a realistic depiction of these magpies, I need the background to be quite loose.
STEP TWO
Once I have decided on my images from my reference material, I lightly draw in the birds using a watercolour pencil. Sometimes I have already worked out where I want the birds to be placed but once I start to draw my images on the canvas, I may change the positioning.
STEP THREE
I quickly block in the darks of each bird. I do not use black but a mix of Paynes Grey and Burnt Umber. I mix up a grey from the original dark mix and paint in some lighter tones on the magpies.
Even though I am not intending to paint all the feathers of each bird, I do need to remember about the direction of the feathers. At this point, I no longer use my reference material. That’s when painting comes in – otherwise you are painting a photograph and will try to depict every feather you see.
STEP FOUR
I now bring in the white and gradually build up the white areas of the magpie, keeping in mind a light direction. I also continue to see where I need to make the darks darker.Red and Yellow Light. I adjust this, adding more yellow or red to the eyes as needed. I also paint in the legs of the magpies using the original dark mix with added white. The beaks are also painted in, again the grey mix is adjusted to suit. At this point I adjust the bodies of the birds adding in more darks or lights to suit.
FINAL STEP
This is where I make any adjustments to the background adding in washes of colour where needed to work in with the finished magpies.
