C Whillock project for course: Artistic Watercolor Techniques for Illustrating Birds

I felt like the original photo looked like a watercolor and just knew I had to attempt to paint it. I asked Ellen Muller for permission to paint it and she said absolutely, as long as she could see the final art.

I used Adobe Fresco, imported the image, reversed the image, traced the image with an overlay layer and printed it so I could create my stencil.

After tracing the image to my paper, I created my pallet of colors. I found through the process of painting, that I needed some different colors. Perhaps spending more time testing, blending and playing with my chosen pallet, I would have found that out sooner.

I painted the bird first, then the rope and finally the background. Originally, my background was more of a pastel color. I'm thinking I should have left if lighter, as the bird really "popped" with the lighter background.

Materials Used:

Windsor & Newton Professional Watercolor tubes.
Arches 300 lb Cold Pressed 9 x 12" paper block