Bird Painting Number One

I've been wanting to spice up my dining room for some time with personalized paintings. Finally, I'm getting around to starting them. I had four canvases that I originally purchased for my spare bedroom. Instead, I decided to use them in the dining room, since there is more traffic in that space and they will be enjoyed more there! I purchased four more for the spare bedroom and chose to stick with a color scheme that will work for both spaces. I'm hoping to switch them out if I grow tired of one or the other during the year.

Deciding what subject to paint was not too difficult. I had either floral themes, birds, or food in mind. I decided to go with birds. For the spare I'll probably do floral to keep things versatile. I nixed the food, as it limits that art to be used almost exclusively in a dining or kitchen area.

Next step was to choose a medium. I settled on oil. Not only is it a great medium, but a friend is wanting a very large oil done for her living room and I figured this would give me a chance to "brush up" my skills on some simple art for my own wall.

If you haven't used oil before, you may want to practice with it a bit before you jump into it. One of the most distinct differences between oil and other paints is the ability to paint "wet on wet." In other words, you don't have to wait for it to dry. Watercolor, for example, will bleed all over the place if you have two wet surfaces touching. Oil doesn't work that way. It allows you to continually work with the painting.

For this one I started with a simple base that was a contrasting color (warm) in order to create some interest around the edges of the shapes I'm attempting to create. This adds some visual interest and also prevents any blank canvas from showing.

After creating the base layer, I lightly drew the outline of the bird, stems and leaves. I made the first layer really thin by adding paint thinner, which caused it to dry almost immediately. I then moved on to creating a blue background using prussian blue and ivory. I used several of the Burnt colors to create the outline of the bird and stem. In addition, I added some of the Cadium colors and more reds to lighten the feathers. 

Slowly, I continued to add detail and highlights to the piece and the bird. This is purely done at your preference. I also thickened up the tail of the bird as I went as well. It was challenging deciding how much white I wanted on the edge of the bird and the birds face, but ended up dulling it down a bit. 

The Veridan green was added last to the leaves. I made sure some of the bright base tone peaked through around the leaves and stem. I also allowed some to peek through at the top of the painting just to add some depth and interest. 

Overall I am definitely pleased with my first attempt at revamping my oil painting skills. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the other 3 quickly and move on to the monster canvas that my friend Nancy selected for her wall. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy the fruits of my labor with a nice glass of wine. Cheers!