The Red Capped Robin

Before any painting is commenced, a number of decisions have to be made. The first for me is the subject. I have thousands of photographs of wildlife (mostly but not exclusively birds) and a decision needs to be made on what species of animal, insect, or bird will be the subject of my new painting. The second decision will be the support base that I use for the painting. For the purpose of this demonstration I will be using the Fabriano 600gm hot press paper. The thickness of the paper relieves me of the necessity of stretching the paper, which is something that always seems to cause me difficulty. Further decisions need to be made on how closely I’ll follow the photograph, the lighting direction and the size of the painting.

STEP ONE

For this demonstration I will be painting a favourite bird of mine, a Red Capped