Skittles Family Step 1

This painting is from a photo I took of these georgous baby birds that were hatched by the same avian breeder that I got my cockiteils from.

I have called it Skittles Family as one of Erica's birds like these was called Skittles. You will see why as the painting progresses.

I have started with the drawing and added a couple of washes to both the sky and the ground.

I have used a salt technique to add texture to the ground.

Blue Mask finished

I have now finished "The Blue Mask" The final step was spraying it with two coats of Fixative.

I have added silver to the mask itself as well as the ornament on the right side of the mask where the feathers attach

The edges of the canvas have been painted with black acrylic.

This painting is certainly now mixed media!!!

I look forward to any comments or suggestions.

I hope to be able to use just watercolor on my next canvas but there certainly is a learning curve with the canvas as compared with 300 lb Arches coldpress paper.

Blue Mask Step 7

This photo shows the background still wet where I have applied Turpnoid to the pastel.

I have also defined the plumage abit more.

When this dries I will add the finishing touches.

Princess Lily Grace

This is a watercolor painting of my granddaughter Lily Grace.

It is from a photo I took of her dressing up on her fourth birthday wearing a crown and earrings I had bought for her.

Dressing up and putting on makeup are things Lily really enjoys.

I have been working on this painting for a long time now but as I have stated before I often work on two or three paintings at a time. I am almost finished Blue Mask and I am painting some birds now as well.

If you look back in my blog you will see where I started this painting.

Lily will be Five on April 19th.

Now I have to start a painting of her little sister Molly Clair.

Blue Mask Step 6

I have now covered the back ground with pastel after the canvas had dried.

The Tooth worked very well to hold the pastel. I am certainly more pleased now with the depth of color and I feel it has brought the mask foreward.

Blue Mask Step 5

In this step I have removed the masking I had applied to save the whites for the feather Plume.

You will now also see the wet film I have applied over the background. It is Golden Acrylic ground for pastel.

I have applied it to give tooth to my canvas to allow me to now use pastel over my watercolor as I did not like the texture of the background with just the watercolor.

Blue Mask Step4

In this step I have used Inktense to put in the decoration on the face of the mask. I have added another wash to the background and the table but I am very disappointed in this watercolor canvas and the way the paint lies on the surface.

I am now debating which way to go with this.

Do I opt for acrylic or pastel or scrap it all together. Stay tuned for the next step!!!