A pied wagtail

Today is our 21st wedding anniversary, we had a lovely sunny day, and were relieved the petrol strike had just been resolved and so we could welcome the friends and family we had  hoped would come. A splendid day , and a lovely life since with a kind man, all I could hope for. 

We have since moved to Devon , and love it, and are both lucky to be able to work from home, so despite seeing each other everyday, we are still together. Enjoying each others company , most of the time, and when I need my own space I have my lovely studio.

I have been making the most of the late summer/early autumn sunshine. Relishing in those slightly misty mornings.

 

Today when I got back from my walk, there was a lovely card waiting from me in the post. The friend who was my bridesmaid all those years ago sent me a card, just to say how much she enjoyed my blogs and art work. To say how proud she was of me...wow, it meant so much. I am so very proud to have such great friends like her, we met when we were both 16, and though we live many miles from each other she has always had my back. Connections are so important, and they resonate through my work, there is so much beauty in the everyday, I think.

And amazement at what nature can do.

So as I wonder at the small stuff, I thought I would begin a few blogs on painting small birds. This is a very elegant little bird, I often see them in towns or carparks hopping about.

The pied wagtail 

First I sketch out the bird.

Then I use masking fluid and a paper clip to mask off the white areas on his wings

 Now I do the finer details the eye and the beak. I just use cerulean blue and a mixture of indigo and sepia to get the black or grey colour.

Now I paint the white part of the bird, which means I am painting shadow really. So I wet it all first then drop in a mixture of cad red and cobalt blue. Also some blue under the wings.

Now around the head I used indigo. And onto the wings where I used cobalt blue and violet.

Moving down the wing, violet wat the lighter colour and indigo the darker shade. And painted the legs

Then once I am happy and everything is completely dry I rub off the masking fluid.

Now a few splatters with the white acrylic and the paynes grey and we are done x