Today we are going to do a watery abstract background for a bird silhouette. Let’s start by making an oil pastel resist for an early moon in the sky. Using a white oil pastel, draw a circle at the top your page and colour it in. Make sure you blow away any crumbly bits and don’t push them off with your hand.
It’s hard to see in the picture below, but the moon is in the top right corner.
Next, let’s use some watercolours, I used a turquoise blue and magenta colour. I first wet the paper lightly with water and then placed blobs of colour all over.
I used a paper towel to dab away some of the paint, blend it, and create a bit of texture.
And lastly, I used a small acrylic paintbrush and some black paint to create some grasses or reeds for my bird to rest upon. Make sure you are pulling your paintbrush across the page – like dragging a ribbon on the ground for a kitten to pounce on! This will give you a neat line. I like to start at the bottom of the page and pull the paint up to the top – some lines can go right off the page, some can stop at different lengths and some can even be diagonal lines. Create a lot of lines to lend energy to your painting.
Begin by painting your bird’s head with a small oval and add a small triangle shape for the beak. Paint two curved lines for its body and then paint it in. Add the tail by drawing a wide triangle shape and painting it in. You could make a second bird in the painting as well if you would like.
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