Birds to Fashion: Gang Gang Cockatoo

Gang Gang Fountain by ~pixipatrin on deviantART

Inspired by the Gang Gang Fountain Video (See that blog for the movie! It shows the character of this charming cockatoo.) If I can stay motivated there will be more to come! I regret using the ink. I love pen sketches which are painted with watercolors, but failed to achieve the sketchy effect. And using a camera rather than a scanner for the image didn't help it, either. It's my first watercolor work on this scale, so I'll just view it as a learning experience. I miss prismacolor pencils and using thick acrylic. I really like to pile paint on the paper. Watercolor doesn't work in the same way. I'll get used to it!

The trees are red peppercorns and the berries are one of the Gang Gang's favorite foods.

Watercolor Techinques

Major Mitchell's Cockatoos in Love

Gang Gang Cockatoos, Sorry they only have one foot

I've been spending time with a younger charge (even though I was friends with the neighbor's granddaughter back in the home country, we played tennis from time to time), than I did during my days as a tutor to college students. Anyway, it's a nice chance to get to go back to basics and just have fun without pretenses! (As you become so inclined to do at the higher levels.)

We spend hours water-coloring together. It's fun and a stress relief, so I went and picked up a set of watercolors today. But I would like to learn some basic techniques to get me started ,as compared to other mediums I don't have a clue about watercolors. Hence the state of the paintings I've put in as small images in the blog. I'd like to stick with it (I need to stick to a lot of things these days...) I prefer acrylics, but since I don't have much experience with watercolor I figure I might as well try learning a few techniques, should I like it.

Anyway, I'm leaving a link to a fun WATERCOLOR TECHNIQUE WEBSITE

I will add more links if I pursue this interest in the future.

http://www.johnlovett.com/techniq.htm (Thorough, Easy to Understand, Attractive Layout, and FREE!)

http://www.watercolorpainting.com/watercolor-tutorials.htm (Quite Detailed)

http://www.johnlovett.com/techniq.htm (Good Basic Summary)