Art / March 27, 2024

Painting birds with oil

Maritaca segurando um pedaço de madeira de lado. O fundo está abstrato, cheio de cores.

Painting birds with oil was a challenge, since I had never done an animal before. I painted two Brazilian birds in a row: a Green Parrot and a Great Kiskadee.

I made the the Green Parrot for my friend Jully, who lives in Canada, because she wanted to have something to remind her of Bauru, her hometown in Brazil. The Great Kiskadee I just wanted to paint because I miss its beautiful song during the morning. secretada pelo inseto Kerria lacca, inseto vermelho encontrado nas florestas da Índia e Tailândia

Kerria lacca, inseto vermelho encontrado nas florestas da Índia e Tailândia/Kerria lacca, red insect that lives in the forest in India and Thailand I had never painted an animal before, and painting birds was an interesting experience, especially because they have a lot of details and different textures. I think art makes us to challenge ourselves to try unknown paths. The technique that I use to paint them is the one that I learned with my art teacher, Roberto. He taught me to draw first on the canvas and then varnish it with shellac. Shellac is a resine made by a bug called Kerria lacca, and you can find it in the forests in India and Thailand.

Bem-te-vi olhando para o lado, em uma árvore, durante o por-do-sol/Great Kiskadee looking to the side, on a tree, during the sunset Unlike the green parrot, that took me some weeks to finish it, the Great Kiskadee was made in a couple days. I used a pretty small canvas and I drew on it with a 0.9 mechanical pencil. I got a copyright free image online and I made some modifications in it, like the background and the head. By the way, this is my art characteristic: I modify existing images to make them the way I see it. In this piece I didn't do the details of the feathers the way that I wanted, but I played with the colors. It's a less elaborated artwork, but it can decorate a living room or a hallway, for exemple. It was an attempt of reconnect myself to Brasil, because there are no Great Kikadees in Nebraska.

Maritaca segurando um pedaço de madeira de lado. O fundo está abstrato, cheio de cores.

Painting birds like the green parrots need more ability, mainly because I used a bigger canvas to paint it. This bird has a lot of colors and his eyes are very detailed, so they are more complex than other birds. Besides, this green parrot is by side, and it makes the angle even more unique. I really liked the result, especially the very realistic tail and the background, since I used an abstract technique to paint it for the first time. The colors pop up and the eyes are very expressive, but the most important was receiving an audio from my friend saying that she is really happy with this piece.

I have plans to paint birds and other Brazilian animals with oil, that is the medium that I use in my artwork. In May I'm going to be one of the hosts in Noyes Art Gallery, so I have a list of images that I want to do to the first Friday event.