Painting a Bird's Nest Bowl...Sunday, March 16, 2014

I've spent the last few days reflecting on WHAT was important to Mother...What she liked to do, what qualities in a person were important to her, but MOST of all, I have remembered HOW CREATIVE she was...She instilled this in all of us...

So today, I thought I would share how to paint this Bird's nest bowl...

Mother LOVED to watch the hummingbirds, goldfinches and got SO EXCITED the first time she saw a bluebird on our farm.  When she saw a bird that was new, she would track in down in the bird book...

I use Americana Paint by DecoArt.  I have used these paints for YEARS and I LOVE the color pallet and the consistency of the paint...WHEN I open a bottle of Americana, I know EXACTLY what the paint will be like!

If you do not use this brand, then use what YOU have and change the colors to reflect what YOU like...BECAUSE...Ok, Karalee...It is JUST PAINT and I want you to learn to LOVE to paint and to ENJOY it...

The colors I used were:  French Vanilla, Black, Raw Umber, Raw Sienna, Fawn, Light Avocado, Green Tea, Evergreen, Spa Blue, Indian Turquoise

The bowl I used was a 10 inch bowl and it came ALREADY based with Gesso...Ok...I understand that just flew over SOME of your heads...But you can find wooden bowls of all shapes and sizes at most any thrift shop...Clean them with HOT soap water and let them Dry THOROUGHLY...IF you wish, you may base them in WHITE to make the colors brighter, BUT this is NOT necessary... 

I based the bowl with two coats of Spa Blue...After this had dried, I added another coat of Spa Blue and WHILE it was still WET, I added some strokes of Indian Turquoise in an X pattern...the goal is to have some of both colors showing AND by mixing these two colors, you will get various shades of blue...Do NOT over-mix...Paint very loosely until it is what YOU LIKE...Let this dry completely...IF you paint gets MUDDY, and you will KNOW mud when you see it, LET it dry and start over...Don't fret!!

I then took Raw Umber and a #1 liner brush and thinned it just a bit and started in the center and drew squiggly lines in a circle...Do NOT worry if the blue shows through, because you will do this same things several more times...

 

As you can see, I added some Raw Sienna with this and started filling in more of the circles being careful to cover more of the blue

You will see pictures of the same thing...just keep adding swiggly lines...Here I'm adding more Raw Sienna and Raw umber..

 

I then added Black to the Raw Umber and added darker lines because when you paint a bird's nest, you want the base to be darker and then add LIGHTER colors (or highlights) on the top layers...this will give your nest some DEPTH.  Painting is simply building layers and that is what you are doing...

 

ok...so let me review WHAT I have done to this point...

I started with thinned Raw umber and laid in the FORM

I next added some Raw Sienna in this

Raw Umber mixed with black was added next which started the process of building your layers...the first two steps were JUST to get the SHAPE of the next defined.

I again added More Raw Sienna

Fawn was next

AND French Vanilla Highlights were added last...

I added some STRAY twigs to the top of the nest with the darker mix HIGHLIGHTED with the lighter colors...Leaves will be added to the STRAY twigs..

The next thing I did was to make a feather with the center being a straight line.  Feathers were added with an 18/0 liner brush using Indian Turquois and white

 

The leaves were done by double loading a #6 Flat brush with Light Avocado and Green Tea...IF you cannot do a one-stroke leaf, don't fret...SIMPLE paint a leaf shape with your #1 liner and Light Avocado.  WITHOUT getting your brush wet, with just a small amount of paint, work the Green Tea on the right side of the leaf and quickly blend the two colors with your brush...Add stems with your 18/0 liner brush...add some leaves inside the nest also... 

I added some smaller leaves with Evergreen and Green Tea using a #4 flat brush

 

Add some eggs using Spa Blue...The shape is simply an EGG shape...you can do it WITHOUT a pattern!  When you paint your eggs, have them overlapping so they will look more natural...Shade with Indian Turquoise...When this is dry, using an old scruffy brush, pick up JUST a very small amount of white and dry brush this into the center of your eggs.  When this dries, using a STIFF toothbrush, fleck Indian Turquoise onto the eggs (don't worry if it gets on the nest, BUT you can always remove them with a damp q-tip)

I then shaded around the eggs and feather with Black and that is it...I signed the bowl and later I will seal it with a Brush-on varnish...This will soon be on its way to its new owner is a swap I am in...I hope she will like it...

 

 What I LOVE about painting is being able to create something that is a REFLECTION of ME...I paint WHAT I like and do my best to add MY OWN style...Don't say you CAN'T, but instead TRY...I hope you see how simple this can be...

I am THANKFUL that my Mother encouraged me to be CREATIVE and that she led by example...Have a WONDERFUL WEEK and be a REFLECTION of the LOVE that has been shown to you...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥