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