Let's Paint Nature!

Let’s both paint the night heron that we saw at Lake Katherine a few posts ago! I believe with good instruction and practice anyone can learn to paint. How do you know you can’t draw or paint if you’ve never tried?

OK, here we go!
First, I have a blown up picture next to my watercolor paper (140lb cold press) which has been stretched and securely fastened to a wooden board. Next, I mask out the spots that need to stay white, which are his thin white feathers on his back, above his eye, below his eye, on the rim of his wing, and a dot in the middle of his eye for light reflection. My masking fluid is light orange. Masking fluid comes in blue, orange, white and pink. !Let masking fluid completely dry before you continue painting or you’ll have a big yucky mess!
Because I’m inpatient, I started painting his legs while the masking fluid was drying. His legs have light yellow in front and ocher yellow in back.

Next, do a wet on wet wash on his body. For his neck use light yellow and pink. For his wing use ultramarine blue, and alizarin crimson with a heavier emphasis on the blue. For his head and back just use the blue. Remember, if you get carried away (me, always), and you use too much paint, you can blot it with a towel or Kleenex and you will really be able to lighten a mistake. For the rock, a wet on wet wash of indian yellow, sap green and ultramarine blue. Let everything dry completely!

Next, we need to darken his back, wing, and bill. Make a black mixture, never use tube black…it’s so flat and lifeless, mix ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, the sap green and a little dark brown to make an almost black color. Paint his back, head and bill, going right over the dried masking fluid.
For his wing, use less water and mix a purple color with um. blue and alizarin crimson. Paint the edges of his wing. To smooth the wing area (while wet) out take a clean brush, add clean water and touch the edges and move around. Paint his eye red. Let everything dry!

Next, give him shadow on his “cheeks” and throat with water and a touch of um. blue and a touch of brown, just a touch…mostly water to get a light color. Remember every time you layer with watercolors your color gets darker. Add another layer of paint to the rock (same colors), blue and green to the right represent the wonderful moss growing on a wet rock. Detail his feet with brown markings on his “knees” and talons. Don’t forget his claws!
For the water in the background, mix a lot of water and prussian blue or thalo blue. Make sweeping strokes back and forth. With a knife, scrape wave lines while the paint is wet, it will make a nice pattern when dry. Let completely dry!

Finally, take the making fluid off by rubbing it with you finger or rubber eraser. Now, if your painting isn’t fully dry when you do this you’ll have a nightmare, so be patient or dry it with a hair dryer. Darken his eye with some dark brown on top of the red but leave some red show through. Darken his bill with more homemade black. Darken under his wing with a thin line of of that same black.
Lastly, make another layer of paint on the rock with the same rock colors except less water and more paint.

Two secrets for success: Always let dry in between steps and let little pockets of white paper show through for breathing room. If you make sure to do these two steps with every painting, you’ll surely have a better painting! It took me a long time to learn that with much frustration in between. I wanted to save you the trouble!

TA-DA! Job well done!

Don’t forget to sign your masterpiece! You did it!