Bird on a Wire

As I sort through some of my earlier work on the computer, I thought it would be fun to paint the same subject, using a different medium. The original "Bird on a Wire" was painted using watercolour paints, as you can see from the texture of the paper.

I've always liked this painting, so this past week I decided to paint it again, but this time using acrylic paints.

I started out, as I usually do, scrubbing a warm colour on the canvas, followed by a quick sketch.

Then I started adding light glazes of colour, blocking in the fence post and the prairie grasses. Next I painted in the sky.

The barbed wire was fun to do, twisting it around and dropping in highlights where the light would reflect. On my sketch (above) I had a bottom row of wire, but decided to omit that, as I thought it would block the viewer from entering the piece. Plus it didn't really do anything for the painting.

I changed the bird from a blue bird to a blue jay, with a little bit of attitude, his feathers ruffled from the prairie winds.

The remake of "Bird on a Wire", 12 x 14"
This one and other "Prairie Whispers" can be viewed in my gallery.

Till Next Time ...

From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...

Susan