Bird Bird Bird
30-Day Challenge
In addition to the Holiday Cacti Workshop I took in 2024 with the Tucson Botanical Garden, I also recently (ish) took another one of their online workshops for birds.
During the class we painted the Curve-billed Thrasher.
The instructor passed along a few other reference photos that I decided to try on my own after the class. I thought I’d attempt a “30-day Painting Challenge,” the idea to paint the same bird 30 days in a row.
Parameters: Draw/paint the Gilded Flicker 30 times (reference image below), but feel free to change and experiment with paint colors, paper sizes, brushes, techniques, and even mediums.
Perhaps my subject was too hard, or I got derailed a week that everyone in the house was sick, but I did five days of this challenge before dropping the ball and letting it go.
On the second to last day, as you’ll see, I got quite frustrated with my progress and started venting my frustration on the page.
I brought the images to Greta and she gave me some feedback.
She wasn’t a fan of the background color splotches.
She mentioned that if I focused a little more on the sketch composition, the final painting would get closer to the reference. The original bird was a bit more horizontal than my sketches, which ended up quite vertical. I think I should have tried reorienting the paper, or made them square.
She recommended focusing more on making the light areas lighter, such as the underbelly.
There was more feedback, but I’ve forgotten what else she said.
I’d like to try this experiment again, but perhaps a much smaller sketch or a slightly easier (and less detailed) subject. Any ideas?
-Lana
This subject looks challenging! Maybe for a smaller, less detailed subject you could do some fall leaves. You could play around with different tree species and color/pattern variations for variety.