Summative - Exhibition 3 material prep

After the completion of exhibitions 1 and 2 I wanted to experiment with paint techniques for creating my birds on the rounds. Although I liked my exhibitions I wasn’t happy with the paint method of applying the acrylic as I don’t believe it was creating the mutational colours of each feather as well as the texture of the feathers when overlayed. I decided to delve into my research and study techniques that can be used to paint birds to a high quality to being more of a sense of realism into my artworks.

One technique I came across was the double dipping of a paint brush in the two shades you want to work with and then applying this to the surface with a fanned moment to create an almost petal like ombre effect ideal for producing individual feathers one by one for the birds body. I attempted a test patch of this method of creating feathers onto one of the wooden boards and I have included images of this below.

I enjoyed the level of texture created from this method however I don’t think I was correctly dipping the brush in the colours to achieve the blend I was hoping for. I decided to give this method a second attempt on a canvas to work on a bigger scale of creating the coloured plumage I desired for this piece. I have shown photos for this below.

After completing and photographing this study I felt much better about the techniques and knew of ways to adapt the paint method to work for the scale of painting I was creating of my parrot.