Going Quackers !

Today was bright sunny day in Mid Devon, I have spent a lot of time recently painting little bees, and I shall no doubt return to them as I do love them ,but today I needed a break. While I was looking for something completely different I came across a duck in mid flight, it looked so completely quackers that I thought I would see what happened if I painted it and here today I can share  the results with you.

Have a go it is fun 

1. 

 

Sketch out your duck.

 

2.

Next I painted in the eyes which are tiny, compared to the painting as a whole, and then the beak. I used windsor yellow and a touch of orange , you want it to be as bright as possible. I left a highlight on there to so it looked nice and shiny.

3.

 

Then I started on the head with an under painting of phathalo blue then veridian and indigo to give the darks. I also took out a highlight with a clean damp brush.

I added the markings to the beak, but as you will see in the next photo they looked too much so I took them out again with a clean damp brush and some kitchen roll. I really don't know what I am doing half the time!

4.

Now I moved onto the body, I used a muddy brown colour with some yellow ochre and a touch of blue. I then dropped in the markings around the neck with different shades of browny red, adding some blue where I want them to be darker. Keep the paint quite concentrated as you don't want it to bleed to far into the body , but you do want it to look a part of the feathers.

5. 

 

I am just working my way around the bird leaving the wings till last. The feet are great fun, use bright colours again and make sure you leave some highlights to show their shininess . I like the emphasise the parts that make a duck a duck ( or a bee a bee) depending on what I am painting.

6.

Now the wings and these are the quickest part of all I just wet the whole wing and add the feathers with a mixture of cobalt blue and cadmium red, I don't worry too much about the actual colours I can see on the bird as this seems to work well .

7.

Same on the other side.

8.

 

Finally I have to make sure the wings look joined to the body so I added the top of the wing and some shadows. Then I go a bit bonkers with the water and the splashes, add as many or as few as you like but have some fun. Maybe practise on a piece of scrap paper first so you don't ruin the work you have done.

9.

Finally I added a bit of white acrylic for that extra splash

 

Go on go quackers , have a go!