I have been painting legged birds from way back. They show up in various artwork, when a regular 2-wings-2-regular-feet bird just won't be enough. Yesterday I started these three small formats. My plan was to paint each bird carrying on its wings a plump red heart, like 3 feathered "Love Messengers".
Here are my three birds. I usually cover the canvas with a blue wash and go over my pencil drawing with a dark purple/blue on a hard bristle brush.
Here you see one of them almost done. I want the second one to be a white bird so I painted my undercoat in blue.
The two smaller ones were easy. The third one will take a little longer because I will change my mind several times as I am painting him...
Here you see the orange undercoat that I painted under the blue sky ( I like to paint an underlayer of the complimentary color of what my final color will be. Then I dry-brush on top).
Here I added the fat heart on his back and changed the shape of his face.
I liked him in a greenish yellow but I decided he could use a bigger belly.
I like to add feathery details with a fine brush. This might be my favorite part because I like to get lost in minute details...
My background was too plain so I added a few clouds...
I wrapped the sky, clouds and branches around the canvas as well.
And here they are, all three ready to deliver their message of love. The next step will be three coats of glossy varnish et voila! Done.
These are adorable!
Posted by: cjy | Tuesday, 17 January 2012 at 05:57 PM
Lovely, lovely work, Isabelle.
Posted by: Meridith Dufresne | Wednesday, 18 January 2012 at 10:26 AM
Thank you Meredith and cjy, my legged birds are dear to me...
Posted by: Isabelle Bryer | Wednesday, 18 January 2012 at 10:31 AM
Beautiful!! You are so talented :)
Posted by: Angie Richmond (@write_me_happy) | Wednesday, 18 January 2012 at 11:15 AM
Hi Angie! I hope you keep warm up there :)
Posted by: Isabelle Bryer | Wednesday, 18 January 2012 at 04:48 PM
Oh these look great. I want one! -And how perfect for the Valentines season (you clever lady, you).
Posted by: Aubrey | Thursday, 19 January 2012 at 12:10 AM
thanks for sharing your process with us! they are definitely perfect for valentine's day gifts :)
Posted by: Feng Shui By Fishgirl | Thursday, 19 January 2012 at 09:13 AM
Perfect Isabelle, they are so you!
Posted by: Paul Moshay | Thursday, 19 January 2012 at 12:16 PM
Thank you Aubrey and Katy. Ok you got me. they could be Valentine gifts :)
Paul, you think so? I see a resemblance with me in the legs maybe ;)
Posted by: Isabelle Bryer | Thursday, 19 January 2012 at 05:14 PM