Painting the Pileated Woodpecker in Acrylic (6)

Expanding Your Artistic Horizons Series

Painting Session 6
Date: 06/17/2017
Subject: Pileated Woodpecker
Medium: Acrylic on Paper
Links to Prior Sessions: Session 1 - 3, Session 4, Session 5

I spent Session 6, repeating what I did in Session 5. I continued to spend almost all of my time working on the leaves, trying to achieve some level of realism.  But continue to run into the same issues, such as the ability to blend the paint and drying time. I am sure that it is my inexperience painting in acrylic and not knowing some of the methods or techniques used to achieve the results I am looking for. I did read that the glazing medium could be used to blend acrylic paint. Before I start another painting, I want to get some of the medium to see if it helps solve the problem. I am not sure if the medium and paint will behave the same on paper as it does on canvas. Maybe I will do a test on different surfaces to see how the medium will work before starting another painting. I did paint in a light blue sky in the background. Originally I intended to have lighter leaves in the background but changed this mid-stream during session 5. Looking back at the painting in session 4, I am not sure this was such a good idea. I think I think I like the original concept with the leaves better than the sky. But I don't feel like I am making much progress, so I will probable only paint one more session adding in a few details and call the painting done. Otherwise, I will overwork the painting and never be satisfied with the results.

Session 6 Painting

Session 5 painting