Lesson No.7 - Making Those Feathers Appear Real

We're back to painting the chickens' feathers today.  So working from the head, down the neck and into the wing, I brushed in the darks first (leaving white canvas for the highlights on her front and back).  I then dabbed in the feathers with a lighter mix, using a scalloping effect.  Lastly, using just white and a fine brush, "feather" off the individual feathers at the top into the darks so that they appear to be coming out from under the top feather.  If it starts to become too muddy and wet, leave it for next week and move on.

I'm also changing the colours slightly as I go - more bluey-purple for the top of the bird and a bit more red-purple underneath.

You can clearly see Jo's scalloping on the neck and wing here.