Monday 11 November 2013

Painting Colorful Birds for Fun

As regulars will know I have contributed in the past to the Facebook page `Painting Colorful Birds for Fun'. This was initiated by the artists Robin Berry and Gerard Hendriks. Up to three months ago I made several contributions, some better than others. With all the trauma (I promise I shall stop referring to this as it is becoming tedious) of selling and buying houses, and finally moving to a new home, my painting suffered badly, mostly by not happening. I can't afford to slip back too much as it remains poised on a knife edge. Finally the `studio' is almost complete - just a few things to refine it - so I want to get back to painting and/or drawing at least three sessions per week. The following birds are the result of a drawing I made over three months ago and I can't even remember what species they are, other than being exotic. The subject at the AVA meeting last week was `A Misty Day, and as usual I finished early. As I had brought the bird drawing with me I painted it in the remaining 30 minutes. 


16" x 12" Gerstaeker No.3 90lb Not

The paper is a cheap cellulose one from Great Art but is okay for this type of study, although better quality paper usually improves (not always!) the result. As you can see the birds are very colourful with presumably male and female represented. Blues were Teal Blue (Daniel Smith PG50) and Cerulean (Rowney PB35). The greens are mainly Hookers (Graham) and a little Sap Green also Graham.. Ivory Black features as does Quinacridone Gold (Daniel Smith) and Raw Sienna (W & N) I'm not sure which red I used but the purple is a mixture of Moonglow (DS) and red. Not great but  a step in my `comeback'.

Brushes were the usual Escoda retractable Kolinskys plus the Isabey retractable Size 6.

10 comments:

Unknown said...



Beautiful colours in your birds, well done in 30 minutes.

Peter Ward said...

Thanks for commenting Brenda and your kind remarks.

Ray Maclachlan Art said...

Good to see you back painting regularly Peter. You paint birds well, and in only 30 minutes. Terrific.

Peter Ward said...

Hi Ray. Yes I will be stepping up the activity on painting- probably gradual;y at first. Thanks for kind comments. I still have room for improvement on the bird front but keep trying.

spinningdownunder said...

These are two male Gouldian Finches found in Northern Australia and very collectable among bird enthusiasts. The colour probably varies with age, the juveniles generally not being as brightly coloured as the adults.
Hope this helps!

Peter Ward said...

Thanks for info Caroline. They are certainly spectacular birds.

Linda said...

Hi Peter, this is so beautiful!

Peter Ward said...

I think it could be better but thanks for kind comment Linda.

Yvonne Harry said...

Good to see a painting again. Look forward to the proposed thrice weekly sessions. We look forward to seeing a couple of views of the finished studio too!

Peter Ward said...

Funnily enough I'm still finding it hard going and moving after 33 years is a shock to the system but slowly getting there. My `studio' is not quite finished but I will do a feature on it with pics when complete as a number of fellow artists have expressed interest.