Rooster

Phew, I can't quite believe that we've made it to the end of January, but here we are at the beginning of February. And I thought I might start the month with some bright colours.

Outside my studio, the sun is shining. It's cold, but the blue sky always cheers me up. My snowdrops are booming

And some cyclamen are doing their thing

  I even saw some primroses yesterday, real sign that Spring is on its way. Here in Devon we are famous for our  hedgerows and at this time of year, they begin to fill up with wild flowers. If you look back through some of my blogs, you'll be able to see some about painting flowers. And I will no doubt do some more this year. But today? I fancied painting a rooster.

As usual, I begin by Finding a good photo of a rooster. I sometimes use. A site called Pixabay. I found a nice a nice bright colourful rooster and used him as my model.

I begin by sketching out the shape.

Then I went in and painted the fine detail on his face, his eyes, his beak, and all those colourful red cones.

 

I use the brightest red I have, and I under paint in Indian yellow. I also painted his lovely feet.

These parts have all the detail in them but they are very small in comparison to the rest of the painting. I like to sort of concentrate on these little patches.

Before I go mad later!!

 

Wow, now I went in for the body.  I painted the belly. Is that the right word? In a sort of shadowy colour. And then I went full bright on his feathers. The lightest light is the white of the paper coming through. Then I painted in Indian yellow, then Cadmium orange. Then Scarlet. You can really let your imagination go my wild.

As it dried, I darkened up some areas. I also highlighted some of the feathers. I like to see what happens after I've painted it and then go back in with dark and  light. See what I think adds to the painting.

Now the really fun part to do the tail feathers. I'm using. Blues, Indigos, Purples. To really make a statement.

 I want to finish the painting with a flourish , to let the colours bleed into the paper. I want to add splashes and sprays, a bit of white acrylic. I think you can go as far as you like with something like this because it's all colourful and joyful. When I'm happy and  I like the result, I can stop.

But you can go as far as you like.

Have fun with colour. Have fun with water. Have fun with your paintbrush. Have fun at seeing how far you want to take your painting. Just enjoy your painting !.