Creative Artist - Issue 10_

wildlife photographer Helen Fallow and I have her

permission to use them.

Photographs are a wonderful reference and I

have a large collection. They are especially useful

for dif erent poses. I also have many sketches of

birds done from life as this is the only way to really

achieve coni dence and l uidity in a bird painting.

I have seen many paintings that are no more than

a copy of someone else’s photo. This seems a

pointless exercise to me; why not become a bird

photographer? A photo that is not your own is

subject to copyright and it should not be copied

without permission. Despite this, photos can always

be used for reference.

Painting a Blue Wren

Step Four

To paint the male blue wren I started with dilute

cerulean blue on his head and cheeks and a wash of

ultramarine blue on his chest. I then mixed a black

from ultramarine and burnt umber to do the rest of

the head and beak. Diluting the small area around

the eye helped to indicate the ring that surrounds

it as the eye is black and there is not much else to

distinguish it apart from the highlight.

Step Five

Black was then applied over the ultramarine on the

bird’s chest but some blue was allowed to show

through. The blue neck strip was then painted with

WORKSHOP WATERCOLOURS

Step 3A

Step 5A

Step 3B

Step 4