METAL ON BIRD FEEDER

The metal part of the feeder has all the colors in it the we used for the bird.  It's metal, so it is reflecting all those colors.  I painted the metal wet on wet and only wetting that outer part....taking it in sections, since there are some light areas I want to protect.  I chose not to mask out anything.  You don't want to paint the white edges on the left...keep that white, although there is some color in it.  I can't really tell you how to paint this, but the colors I used were .....for the dark, ultramarine and maroon perylene (more on the blue side), the green which is sap and maroon again, and I used alizarin for the red reflection. There is a reflection of the perch in there that I later scrubbed out and when dry, I painted some cobalt into it. There is a very bright highlight next to the bird that I didn't wet in the beginning....keep that white.  After I initially did my wet into wet wash, I let it dry and deeper color where it needed it.  Then painted the rest in.

PAINTING THE BIRD FEEDER

The bird feeder was a little tricky to figure out.  I decided a few layers was necessary to achieve the depth and variety of the seeds.   I started by drawing in a few larger seed shapes but didn't overdo it....around 7-9 shapes. Then I wet the whole area but not the seeds I just drew in, or the metal hole area, and not the very bottom where there is a white dividing line. Also I stopped with the water at the very right edge to keep the white highlight. Using burnt sienna, I painted the upper portion and stopped 3/4 of the way to the right and used a light wash of cobalt blue the rest of the way towards the right where there are highlights on the plastic....leaving the unwet area alone to keep the white highlight.  Towards the bottom, it gets a little more golden, so I laid in some raw sienna with burnt sienna in parts.  I even put a little cadmium red in the lower right corner.  After that dries, I painted the seeds I drew in with various colors, some raw sienna and some burnt sienna and one or two I made cobalt.  I let that dry and worked on the NEXT LAYER.  This time working wet on dry I got a little stronger with my color.  I introduced the olive green color I used on the bird....the sap green mixed with a little maroon perylene.  I started painting with the green mixture at the top corner and used negative painting to add in more seed just very randomly so that the underlying color would remain and create the seed color.  Again don't go overboard, the brain will be able to tell this is bird seed and you definitely shouldn't try to over work this or add every seed shape!  Insane! Keep it simple.  As I worked toward the right I started to add in the cobalt again but kept that green in it too.  The blue shows up subtly.  I kept working the green color all the way down, also introducing raw sienna again towards the bottom.

LAST  LAYER -  (don't forget to let each layer dry before doing the next one) I used the same green, only I introduced neutral tint to it.  I wanted the seed to look more black, but the black was too strong so I mixed the green into it to soften it down.  It seemed to do the trick.  Again, I tried to paint with a little texture, showing a little of the background I used before....it should be subtle changes in color, not too obvious.  Subtle is good!  Some areas I painted a little stronger than others.  The upper left seems a little darker so I used stronger color there.  I painted over the bird seed I drew in to glaze it and make it recede a little, but here I diluted my black mixture a bit so as not to completely lose the seed shapes altogether.  I kept using the black mix all the way through, except I did keep putting a little cobalt into the right and if it needs a little browner touch towards the bottom, you can add more raw sienna, cadmium, or burnt sienna charged into the black.....however you see it.  Just don't make the black mix so heavy towards the bottom.  We are going to add more when it dries.

Now that it's all dry, I used that same black mix and dappled some little seeds on the bottom because the smaller seeds fall to the bottom of the feeder and it is evident in the photo.  There are some lighter seeds in there too....you can dapple some raw sienna in there too.  That has to dry, and then I added highlights by scrubbing out vertical lines with water and blotting.  Remember subtle is good here.

"FEEDING BEAUTY"

I completed the painting of the female Cardinal.  The tail colors I used were alizarin and ultramarine blue as the initial wash.  Make sure you make it more on the red side.  When that dries, glaze over the tail with the same two colors, only now it is more on the blue side.  The thing to watch is how you glaze over the initial wash.  You are going to avoid painting near the edges and the middle where the redder wash is visible.

Next paint the little side wings.  I used maroon perylene and ultramarine in a watered down wash.  The same technique used for the tail is used for the wing tips.  After that wash dries make it a little bluer and paint the areas you see darker.

Next segment the bird feeder.....

FEMALE CARDINAL

Building layers on the bird.  Also did the beak in cad. red with some alizarin in it.  Added some yellow ochre at the tip and then decided it should be brighter so I added azo yellow.  I think it gave it a transparent feel.  The wing tips I used a very diluted maroon perylene and ultramarine....later I will do some negative painting in that area and deepen it.

Female Cardinal Painting

Starting a cardinal painting.  I liked this picture because of the lighting.  I will post the photo so you can see it.  The background is painted wet in wet.  I used a very concentrated mix of maroon perylene and ultramarine blue.  I also used ultramarine while continuing down the picture.  Then adding the dark into it.  I used raw sienna in the lower left corner and then spattered the picture with it and with the dark.  I spattered a little towards the top with the maroon very diluted.  When that dried I started working on the bird.  I started wet in wet everything above the perch.  I put yellow ochre lightly throughout the bird and very lightly near the belly where it's lighter.  Pay particular attention to leave  a little white space on the top of her head....that will give a nice backlit effect.  I used some burnt sienna to put the sienna tones in the upper breast area.  While it's all still wet I also added cadmium red within the sienna a little and adding it to the tip of the head and around the eye.  I mixed sap green and a little cad red together and worked that into the head area.  The deep violet mix that I used for the background, I also used for the dark around the beak area.  I also used it for the dot of the eye.
I dried everything and then reworked those same colors over again, keeping the breast area the original wash color and trying not to go into it too much.  I did use a little wash of azo yellow or winsor yellow around the breast area to brighten it up a bit.  More later.

I changed the background to include more texture and not make it quite so dark.

ALL PRE-PEAR-ED Finished Painting

Shadows

Before painting the plaid it's important to put in the shadows in the cloth first.  I used ultramarine, a little alizarin and a little azo or winsor yellow.  Working wet in wet just in the section you are working in.....you don't need to wet the whole cloth.  Make sure you don't make the shadows too dark....some areas are very subtle.