Hi readers! I know it’s been a while since I last posted, since I have been working on one of the largest watercolor pieces I have ever created, which is shown above. This piece took a lot of time, approximately a week in total. For this painting, I used Articci watercolors, which I highly recommend for watercolor projects. An image of the watercolor box is given below. The watercolors also came with a brush, a water brush which allows the artist to dilute the paint as they go. Using this brush, I was able to create thin lines, curved lines, lines that go from thick to thin, and blend the colors. This brush, of which an image will also be provided below, is a necessary tool when it comes to watercolor. I started with sketching the outlines of the body & the feathers of the peacock. For the head and body, I looked at pictures of real peacocks and observed that they had small, narrow heads with long necks that started out thin and quickly grew thicker closer to the base. Imitating that, I moved on to the greenish ruffle under the feathers. A teardrop shape works best for this. For the feathers, I started off drawing lines going outwards, and lightly sketched upside-down teardrop shapes distanced by an inch. To paint this piece, I used the colors white, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, cobalt blue, emerald green, sap green, viridian, hooker’s green, yellow ochre, and black. The body was a blend of ultramarine blue and cerulean blue, and the ruffle was a mix of hooker’s green and yellow ochre. The center of the feathers is lightened yellow ochre, with a spot of ultramarine blue outlined with a pale cobalt blue. The green part of the feathers included all the shades of green: emerald green, sap green, viridian, and hooker’s green. Using the water brush I mentioned above, I made curved strokes going from thick to thin starting at the base of the yellow ochre teardrop shape and going up. This step takes a while, which is what took me a while. The details on the face were the hardest part, so I used a picture of a peacock as a reference.
I hope this post inspired you, and if you want to be alerted when new content arrives, please subscribe!
Artopia 