Page 74 - The Decorative Painter Winter 2015

ACRYLIC
bushier (the term bushier means more needles) than the first pattern. Keep the needles about a half-inch, and when you start at the tops of the limbs, make the needles scarcer than at the tips. Refer to the Step-by-Step.
NEST WITH EGGS
Trace on the nest pattern no. 3 at this point and finish before tracing on the birds.
Basecoat the oval with Burnt Umber using your no. 4 flat.
Use your no. 3/0 liner loaded with very thin Yellow Ochre (lighter side) and Burnt Umber (shade side) mix to start on the outer rim of the oval. Add short little squig- gly lines working in an oval pattern leaving the center open for the eggs, and keep repeating, remembering to allow contrast.
Add Buttermilk to Yellow Ochre for highlight. Then, trace on the eggs and base with Buttermilk, highlighted with Snow (Titanium) White and shaded with Burnt Um- ber. Refer to the Step-by-Step often.
FEMALE CARDINAL
Trace on the patterns of the cardinals (Page 74).
Basecoat her tummy and head Buttermilk, her tail and wing Burnt Umber and her beak Yellow Ochre using your no. 4 flat.
Float with Burnt Umber around her beak onto her face with a 1⁄8" angle. Make the area around the beak darker. Her top notch should be smudged. So, use very little paint and work it into the area first with Yellow Ochre+Buttermilk mix, then a very small touch of Primary Red using the 3⁄8" blender mop. Finish using no. 3/0 liner of Burnt Umber with very tiny lines.
The eye is a dot of Lamp (Ebony) Black circled with Buttermilk. Don’t forget the very tiny highlight in the eye. The wing and tail are detailed using a liner and a mix of Buttermilk+Yellow Ochre. Add a touch of Primary Red to the wing. The tummy is again smudged first with Yellow Ochre and Buttermilk mix, then a little Burnt Umber for shading. The feet are first Antique White detailed using 1⁄8" angle and Burnt Umber. You will find that you might have to add some spruce needles to make the bird fit in the trees. Using your no. 3/0 liner with a very thin mix of Buttermilk+Yellow Ochre, add the feathery lines on the outer edge of the body and some on the tummy. The beak is floated with Primary Red using a 1⁄8" angle and a high- light of Buttermilk at her nose.
MALE CARDINAL
Basecoat, using a no. 4 flat, the entire body of the bird with Primary Red and the bird’s face with Lamp (Ebony) Black. The beak is Yellow Ochre.
The tail is detailed using a 1⁄4" angle, with a float of Burnt Umber, with small Antique White stripes using no. 3/0 liner on both sides. To detail the shading throughout the body, smudge with Burnt Umber.
The highlight is a mix of a very small amount of Yellow Ochre added to Primary Red and used to smudge the wing and body. The beak is floated using a 1⁄8" angle loaded with Primary Red and highlighted with Antique White.
FINISH
After a light sanding and wipe, use a 3⁄4” flat coat with your favorite Satin Varnish and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Enjoy!
72 The Decorative Painter • ISSUE NO. 4, 2015
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