Painting With Your Imagination
Thursday, April 24, 2014
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An aspiring artist came over the other day for an art lesson. And she wanted to sketch birds. [My student’s always get to choose what they want to do…it’s their time, after all.] So since i am not at all an expert on painting birds, but always up for a creative adventure….I pulled up on my large tv screen the www.Bing.com home page. Searched for “bird and flower” and then we scrolled through the selections until this one was selected. (Tablets are also great for viewing photos.) See top left for bing image. |
BIRD ONE
To keep things really simple, we dispensed with the flowers and even the branch and just sketched the simple bird shape. After a bit of outlining and shading I pulled out some gouache (opaque watercolor) and here is my initial “Bing Bird” – a fairly close copy.
To keep things really simple, we dispensed with the flowers and even the branch and just sketched the simple bird shape. After a bit of outlining and shading I pulled out some gouache (opaque watercolor) and here is my initial “Bing Bird” – a fairly close copy.
BIRD 2
Then the TV was OFF! The rest we did from imagination.
Then the TV was OFF! The rest we did from imagination.
BIRD 3
Even crazier…switch up which way the bird is looking. You can do it.
Even crazier…switch up which way the bird is looking. You can do it.
BIRD 4
All for fun, fun for all!
All for fun, fun for all!
That’s it really….so if you wanted to really learn how to paint birds…..find a bird book, or use the internet, and initially set your goal to copy LOOSELY in order to get used to the shapes that make up a variety of birds, then after you understand these shapes (or any other subject of interest) just stop looking and start drawing you OWN BIRDS. You may feel wobbly at first, but I guarantee that using your imagination is way more fun and your work will always LOOK and BE original.
Copying is a Camera’s job, Painting is YOURS!
Now go have some imaginative fun. Paint On!