JSparrow
Well-known member
- Messages
- 76
So, despite my chosen ID name, until now I have never drawn or painted a sparrow. In fact, most of my birds are waterfowl or those found in the marshes as apposed to song and garden birds. But I am determined to get a good rendering by my own hand for my avatar. The one I have just put up as my new avatar was actually a fail, and so temporary.
So then, until I achieve success, I’ll lay out my process here.
First are the graphite sketches. Now, I have to say, my worst trouble with sketching in graphite is that I am impatient with them, always in a hurry to just get on with the painting. Also, I tend to smudge my sketch work and that lack of crisp, clean work is what makes me hurry away from them. But here they are anyway.
I can wish I had waited on this second one before I went forward with the first one. I like it better.
Regardless, as soon as I finished the first impatient sketch, I transferred it onto Arches 140 lb. hot press paper. I wanted my first go at it to be ink and color wash. (And this is why what I have now is a fail!) I thought my Higgins India ink was waterproof, but no! The moment I touched water to my painstaking work at inking it with a dip pen, it began to bleed! To say I was displeased is to put it mildly. The result was a hurried application of acrylic over the lines and from there I was stuck with those lines, smudged ink, and a decision to paint acrylic on paper or just to scrap it.
I decided to try to salvage it with acrylics.
Well, I do NOT like the way my acrylics behave on the paper, plus the lines were thicker than I liked and made it hard to lay in the feathers. After a while it was clear the paper was overworked, and I had to abandon my obsession to get the patterns and texture right. So here is the final result for THIS rendition. My first painted sparrow. I like it somewhat, but I don’t love it. I almost didn’t share it at all. I will keep trying.
8X10 acrylic on Arches 140 lb. Hot press paper
Have to say. I’m amused that at a distant or sideways glance, it looks like a long-legged spider.
So, like I said, I'll keep at it--in between other projects, of course--until I am satisfied.
So then, until I achieve success, I’ll lay out my process here.
First are the graphite sketches. Now, I have to say, my worst trouble with sketching in graphite is that I am impatient with them, always in a hurry to just get on with the painting. Also, I tend to smudge my sketch work and that lack of crisp, clean work is what makes me hurry away from them. But here they are anyway.
I can wish I had waited on this second one before I went forward with the first one. I like it better.
Regardless, as soon as I finished the first impatient sketch, I transferred it onto Arches 140 lb. hot press paper. I wanted my first go at it to be ink and color wash. (And this is why what I have now is a fail!) I thought my Higgins India ink was waterproof, but no! The moment I touched water to my painstaking work at inking it with a dip pen, it began to bleed! To say I was displeased is to put it mildly. The result was a hurried application of acrylic over the lines and from there I was stuck with those lines, smudged ink, and a decision to paint acrylic on paper or just to scrap it.
I decided to try to salvage it with acrylics.
Well, I do NOT like the way my acrylics behave on the paper, plus the lines were thicker than I liked and made it hard to lay in the feathers. After a while it was clear the paper was overworked, and I had to abandon my obsession to get the patterns and texture right. So here is the final result for THIS rendition. My first painted sparrow. I like it somewhat, but I don’t love it. I almost didn’t share it at all. I will keep trying.
8X10 acrylic on Arches 140 lb. Hot press paper
Have to say. I’m amused that at a distant or sideways glance, it looks like a long-legged spider.
So, like I said, I'll keep at it--in between other projects, of course--until I am satisfied.
I also like reading your struggles with it and process--not that I want you to struggle, but I think it helps all of us. 
Liquid acrylic inks are really nice for working on paper.. try them out 
