A flamingo is on my list of suggested subjects that my patrons have given me
so this week I found some time to get one painted.
I painted this flamingo before a few years ago. It's a fairly detailed and tight painting where
I painted practically everything I saw. On the neck I've used some salt to create some texture.
I quite like this painting but I wanted to paint it with less detail and I wanted to
include some soft areas where the eye could rest. I washed this painting in in a similar way to
the goat that I painted last week. I wet the background and the subject at the same time which
allowed the color of the flamingo to drift off into the background. I did a graphite study first.
That helped me to work out all my different edges and then I did a colour study. I wasn't
keen on the green that I used here so when I painted the main painting I didn't put that on.
The photograph that I used came from Wildlife Reference Photos. It was taken by Evelyn Harrison.
That pretty orange that I used on the flamingo was Daniel Smith's Pyrrol Orange
and the paper that I used was Arches cold pressed watercolor paper. It was
300 gsm in weight and I stretched it before I used it. Here's that gorgeous orange that I used,
that's Pyrrol orange. I've wet the head and the neck of the flamingo with water.
I've also wet the paper beside the head just here and also beside the neck just here. When
I paint the paint on, the orange flows off onto the background and it creates those lovely soft,
lost edges that I'm looking for. I've also wet the background down here
and that will give me a soft edge along the front of the flamingo.
When this first layer dried I used my eradicator brush
to gently rub away some of the edges that I didn't like. The brush is wet, the paper's dry.
I rub gently over the paper and I use a tissue to dab at the paint.
Just here there's an awkward edge so I rub the brush over it gently and that softens that edge.
After that I started to wet the body of the flamingo and again here I'm going to take the
water onto the background. What I want to do is get a wash of color all over the top that I can
build some detail on. I want areas of softness that will contrast with the hard edged feathers
that I want to paint. While the paper is wet I paint on some more Pyroll Orange.
I use my large flat brush so that I can get the paint on there fairly quickly.
This color here is Permanent Rose by Winsor and Newton.
Looking at that orange starting to dry I think to myself that it's not going to be dark enough
so I drop a bit more pigment onto it to make it a deeper color.
I need to let that dry now. I've been painting flat on the table so now I've got it tilted up
so that the paint will flow down to the bottom of the paper and I can use my brush to take off
the excess paint. That way I won't get any watercolor blooms forming on it as it dries.
Here's the first layer dry and now it's ready for me to start adding some detail over the top.
I want to deepen the color on the head in places so I wet the area where I want to work
but I put the water on a larger area than where I'll be painting. If I keep the paint away from
the edge of the water my paint edges will remain soft which is what I want here on the head.
This time I'm going to use some Scarlet Lake by Winsor and Newton.
I paint that onto the wet paper and I let the water disperse the pigment. All I do is
touch the paintbrush to the paper and I give the paint a little push to push it where I want it.
Once I've got enough paint on there I wash the paint out of my brush,
I dab my brush on a cloth and then I can use it to tidy up any areas that I don't
like.
And before that paint dries I drop on another color.
This is Permanent Magenta by Winsor and Newton. I wanted a bit darker on the bottom edge.
Now I'm starting to add some detail to the group of feathers on the body.
I paint them in individually. I wet the feathers with water one at a time
and then I deepen the color at the base of the feather.
Here i'm using Permanent magenta that I used on the side of the head to deepen the color there.
Once I've got the paint on there I then take the paint out of my brush
and use it to blend the paint. That gives me that soft edge where the orange meets the magenta.
This one here I've wet with water and now I've got some Permanent rose.
Permanent rose is the color that I used on the background when I did that first wash
and again here I've taken the paint out of my brush
and I blend that paint up a bit and soften the paint edge further.
I did the same thing here. I wet it with water but this time I'm using Pyrrol orange.
I'll put the paint on there, wash the paint out of my brush and then use it to pull it
up a bit further and soften the paint edge. When I'd finished painting all of them in I
allowed them to dry completely. Now I've got a brush that's wet with some water,
clean water. I'm painting over the top of all of them to soften my hard edges slightly.
This lifts a little bit of pigment and softens any dark edges that I don't like. Then I dried that
off and now I'm re-wetting this bottom section. I want to start to paint some of those soft fuzzy
lost feathers in the background. I want to do that on wet paper. This is Permanent rose again.
I paint that along the edge of the other feathers and then I'll pull it down towards
the bottom of the paper to create some lost feather shapes or loose feather shapes.
Now I'll start to pull that paint down and create some feather shapes. I've got Pyrrol orange again.
I'll do the same thing and then I wet the paper further up. I've got some more Permanent Rose here
and this is Pyrrol orange again - pulling it out to create some little loose soft feather shapes.
When I do this I leave some of that lighter underwash
showing. I don't completely cover it with these darker colors.
I can tidy up the edges of some of those feathers while I'm at it
and then I wet the paper up further.
I haven't wet the feathers that I painted earlier. I've only wet around them.
This is Permanent rose and now I've got some Pyrrol orange
here for the shapes.
Permanent rose again
and that gives me all those soft loose feathers
and it gives me a bit of movement in the painting as well.
Then I paint on some a bit higher that come off the body
and these I'm painting on the wet paper as well. Then I started to paint in the beak and the eye.
I mixed some black from burnt sienna and french ultramarine. I'm painting that on wet paper here.
I didn't like the way the orange paint ended abruptly in front of the flamingo
so I've wet that area with water again and I'm going to add a bit more paint there
and again here I wet a larger area than where I need to put the paint.
Then I get some more Pyrrol orange. I paint that on.
I've actually wet into the head of the flamingo as well
and that way I can take the paint into there slightly and I won't get a hard edge forming.
Once I've got the paint on there then I take the paint out of my brush and I blend it softly.
I push it where I want it.
I fiddled with the beak a bit more and I darkened a few colors here and there.
I left the painting overnight so that I could look at it in the morning
with fresh eyes. I fiddled a little bit more and then I decided that I was done.
And there it is. I quite enjoyed painting this one. I think it took me probably about four hours
all up to complete it. That's not including the graphite study and the color study before though.
I'd like to thank Skillshare for sponsoring this video. I've spoken about Skillshare before. It's
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I've done a graphite study of my subject and I've started playing around with a color study.
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take one
a flint a fling a flingo is on my list of subjects
it's a fairly detailed and tight painting where i painted practice
a pump
i painted this flamingo before a few years ago
where i wet the background and the subject at the same time and then allowed the color of the
if painting is your thing there's plenty of painting classes
if painting is your thing there's plenty of painting plenty of painting
thank you for watching please give this video a like and
yeah do that