Watercolor is an astonishing medium. Beginning with spatters and splashes, and using only two colors — Pyrrole Orange and Phthalo Blue — it’s only a short, happy journey to a completed hen. This is the warm-up project for Lesson 5 in my online course, Birds in Watercolor and Beyond. Watch the video all the way through and print the pdf pages that appear below the screen before you begin painting. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy2dALBp6j4
Your preliminary sketch can be very simple — no need for detail. The watercolor will provide surface textures and shading. Here’s what my sketch looked like…
…and here’s the finished Little Black Hen:
In Part 2, we’ll employ an unusual method for moving paint across the paper’s surface: blowing short, sharp puffs of air that push the color away. Feel free to use as much or as little of this free-flowing wind power as you wish, depending on the final effect you want. The bird in this image, for example, uses much more of the technique than our video demo bird does:
Watch the video all the way through and download the pdf reference images before you begin painting.
Love your black hen! Will you do this online class in 2015 again?
Yes, most certainly. And I’m glad you enjoyed the video — thank you for letting me know!
Yes! I will offer it again in January.
Great! You can count on me!
Delightful! I can’t wait to take this course. The way things look, will have little time to play until the first of the year. The old dilemma: time/no money vs money/no time. This year I plan to have savings for the segment of the year when time is plentiful. The whole “moonshine” craze has moved up our Christmas order season by one month. This morning we had a taste testing of banana pudding moonshine. Yikes, after the first couple of sips all the taste buds are numb. But Fairhope Favorites’ moonshine remains the best and is opening in many new markets. What fun to be a part of it!
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:41:07 +0000 To: elaine.rutledge@hotmail.com
And a second video! Wow… I ‘ve to learn a lot. Your bird looks great!
Okay! You have “sold me!” ;-). I will try this… But I still , want to do Fairies! Hmmmm.
Will you do ‘Birds in Colored Pencil’ again? Love to do both bird courses!
Yes, Willy — I will offer “Birds in Colored Pencil” again in January. :)