Today I want to show you a few different watercolor techniques that I used to
paint this little Chickadee.
To me a beautiful watercolor painting is transparent and full of light. The
luminosity in those first washes that you put on the paper are important to
the success of a painting so when I paint my Birds
I try not to put the paint on too dark right at the start. For example the darkest part of this little chickadee is the feathers on the
head. When I painted these feathers I didn't start painting with a really dark
black. Instead I painted a light wash of black and I built it up with successive
layers. Another important thing that I want to point out too is that I didn't
completely cover each layer with another layer.
I allowed areas of the first wash to still be seen. Beautiful effects are
created by leaving areas of the early wash untouched by the next wash. Here on
this yellow Robin I've done the same sort of thing.
I painted a light layer of grey first and then I painted successive
transparent layers over the top but each time I don't completely cover one
layer with another. I leave areas of each layer showing and that creates all
this beautiful texture. I painted this Bluebird here the same way. This is
the first wash and you can see it's not very dark it's quite pale. Then I start
to build over the top of that light wash. then I layer again with another wash and
each time I'm leaving areas of that lighter first wash showing. Now I'm going
to show you bits and pieces of this chickadee painting. The full
length tutorial will be on patreon soon. Patrons will have access to the line
drawing, a progress photo and my finished painting. Ok let's have a look at this
little painting. I'm painting on Arches cold pressed paper here. I'm using a mop brush
to paint some water on. What I want to do is start
painting the apricot feathers on the side of the bird. There's also a strip of
them underneath the white feathers on the head. I want to paint on the wet
paper because I want all my painted edges to be soft. I'll show you the water on
the paper now. So you can see there's a sheen on the surface and there's no
puddles lying anywhere. So onto that wet paper I'm painting some raw sienna and I
just want that paint to bleed across the surface and create a soft apricot
color. I'm flicking some of that paint down onto the dry paper there and
now I want it against the wing here so I run it all the way down the side of
the wing and it bleeds back across the body. You can see that the colors are very
pale and this will dry even softer than this. It won't be quite this dark when
it's dry.
Ok I've moved ahead. I've painted in the background and I've put some gray
feathers on the back of the bird. Now I want to put those same gray
feathers on the front here but I want to work on the wet paper
again just to keep all the paint edges soft. This area just here on the chest
I've wet. The feathers on this area are white but I need some gray to paint
through them just to break it up a bit. So this is grey that I've mixed up with
French ultramarine and burnt sienna. I only want a small amount of gray here
because I want to keep the white paper showing as much as possible and I also
want this color to be quite pale. This area down here is in shadow so I'm going
to put some of that gray paint down there as well. This I can paint on the
dry paper because there's only hard edges here. This first layer of paint
will sit underneath and the
new layers of paint that I put over this one won't completely cover it, you'll
still see areas of this paint layers showing. I'm using my brush up on its tip
and I'm flicking it in the direction the feathers would go. I'm
pulling that paint back up into those apricot colored feathers. Now I've
started painting the feathers on top of the head. I'm using watery lamp black
here. I'm painting on the dry paper flicking my brush in the direction the
feathers would grow. I will go back to that other area when it's completely
dried. I've moved around my paper so I'm standing at the side of it because I
like to pull these strokes towards myself rather than flick them away from
myself. I'm using watery black because I need to start off light and then I will
add some darker color over the top. I pull that color back into the white paper
to create those jagged edges on the white feathers. You would have seen me do
a similar thing on the bee in the video last week. Now that that is dried I'm
coming back with some darker color here. This is lamp black again but it's much
darker than that first layer that I put on here. I've dampened the paper so
that my paint edges will remain soft .I'm painting very carefully around the edge
of the eye and then once I get away from the eye I can push the paint out. Now I
don't want to completely cover that lighter color that I've got there. I want
to leave it showing in some place.s I'm always pushing that paint in the
direction of the feathers, the way they would grow.
I've changed positions again. I'm on the other side of the table or on the edge
of the table so that I can paint these feathers.Tthis way you can see I've left
some lighter gray feathers at the top of the head there. I haven't taken this
darker black paint all the way out to the edge. I couldn't be bothered mixing
up a black so I've just used lap black for this area. Now I'm starting to paint
in the feathers that are on the wing. I'm using lamp black again. This time I've
switched down to a smaller brush so that I can leave the white paper showing
around the edges of the feathers. There's another feather here a larger one. I'm
painting the lamp black on it. I'm leaving a white edge around the outside
part of it. I'm getting a bit more paint. I'm using the watery lamp black. You can
see I've left a white edge around the outside edge where it touches the other
feathers. I'm flicking it into those gray feathers above there. Now I'm going to start
painting the longer flight feather. I've already painted a pale wash of grey over
the top of these feathers. It's dried and now I'm using my liner brush and some
lamp black to paint over my pencil lines that I've got there.
Ok I finished those feathers and I've gone ahead and painted the rock and the
tail. So now I want to add a shadow down here under the wing. I've got
gray on my brush again and I'm painting on damp paper here to keep those paint edges soft and then I can push that paint up
into the dry paper if I want harder edges. Here the paper is dry but closer
to the wing there the paper is wet which keeps those edges soft. I need a bit of a
darker color down here as wel. Here I'm painting on the dry paper so
what I'm doing is pushing that paint into the lighter gray to create the
edges of the lighter gray feathers. I'm painting negatively there. I do this
on a lot of my bird paintings. I a lot of the feathers negatively. So
basically what I do is just paint a darker color underneath the feather and
then I pull that darker color into a lighter color to make the edge of the
feather. tTat sounds confusing. I've shown you this before in another video so
check that out if you want to know more. Basically I form some of my feathers
on my bird paintings by painting them negatively. I'll show you again quickly
here on some paper. I've got my journal here and I'm painting some water
underneath what will be a feather. This pink washes dried. Now I've got some
paint and I'm painting underneath the feather and around it and that water on
the paper keeps my paint edges soft. Painting negatively just means that
you're painting around something rather than on something. So this is what I did
with the chickadee. I had that lighter wash underneath and then I painted
the paint on to the dry paper and I flicked my brush back up into the light
to create the feather. So the only difference between the two was the first
one I did there was on damp paper and this one I've done on the dry paper.
That's what I just did there on the underside of the chickadee. Ok continue
on. Now just here underneath the bird I want to continue the splash. At the
moment it just looks like it's sitting on the right hand side and I want it to
come down through here. I think it will look better if I continue it down
through there. This is Raw Sienna that I'm using. So that looks like that
splash then continues down past behind the bird here. I've just pulled some of
that lampblack down onto those white feathers just to dirty them up slightly.
I think I'm finished. I'll take the take the tape off and there's my little
chickadee. So just recapping - when I paint a lot of my Birds I try to keep my
colors light at first and then I build on top of them but I leave areas of each
one showing which creates beautiful effects on the finished painting and
it's just another one of the reasons that I adore painting in watercolor. Thank you for watching. Please give this video a like and hit that subscribe
button and I will see you again next week with a new tutoria. for example the
darkest part of this little chickadee is the feathers on the head fluffy bit ran
into my hair another important thing I want to point out too is that I didn't
completely cover each bitch I didn't completely cover each
another important thing that I want to point out is yes what is it what is it
that you want to point out another important thing I want to point out too
is that I didn't completely cover each why can I say each seriously
each eyebrows that's what I just did there on the underside of that chickadee
okay continue on I just looked at myself so that's what I just did there on the
underside of the chickadee okay continue on
looks like I'm shilling you away shoot so just recapping when I paint a lot of
my clothes I try to keep my colors light at first and then I build on top of them
but I leave areas of each wash showing which creates