Who doesn’t love birds? They’re so fragile and vulnerable, yet so strong and resilient. Oh, and they’re beautiful too, which is the cherry on the top!
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As we start to move through winter and desperately long for Spring to appear, the birds seem to come alive again. If you stand outside at 8am and just listen, you can hear so many species singing. It helps that I live next to ancient woodland, so am fortunate to encounter so many sounds and sights. Getting out with my camera to capture these birds in their habitat is one of my favourite pastimes. I’m not sure why it never occurred to me until now, that I could create paintings from my photographs of birds.
It’s important to me that these birds are not just a dab of paint on a surface. The understanding of colour theory that has preceded every application has been exciting! I chose to use acrylic paints for the background – mainly because I happened across some highly pigmented products and wanted to give them a go! Oils can go over acrylics, but not the other way around, which is important to remember to ensure you avoid mistakes!
I choose to paint from dark to light. This is simply because I am impatient and I like to watch my artwork develop. It also helps to predict how my colours are going to appear.
Placing a bright colour in the background makes a huge difference to the colours you place over it. Think back to your science lessons – black absorbs light so painting straight over a black surface with colour can be risky. I want my colours to sing, just like these beautiful birds, so I choose carefully.
Sometimes I will go for a contrasting colour, but it’s also beautiful to select something harmonious. I do whatever my mood draws me to at that moment in time because that is ultimately what drives my art.
