Step by step bluebirds and chicory...

I was commissioned for a piece of art this Christmas for the Petree family.  The wife liked bluebirds and chicory flowers and her husband wanted to surprise her!  He wanted 2 adult bluebirds and 2 adolescent bluebirds sitting on a fence with flowers around....It turned out to be a much longer painting than I anticipated, BUT I think I was psyching myself out with every step trying to paint REALLY carefully.

I didn't have a photograph of this painting to work from.  I kind of had to piece it together from pictures of bluebirds, flowers, etc.  Here are the washes and steps.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a pic of the final wash with the cracks and weathering in the wood.  I'll have to see if the customer can take a pic for me.  I framed it, too, and it came out really nicely.

Feel free to try painting this!

Colors I used:  French ultramarine, Moss green, Vandyke brown, Prussian blue, New Gamboge yellow, Permanent Alizarin Crimson,  Hooker's green,  Burn Umber,  Raw Sienna

Happy Painting!