Kookaburra on Antenna
The inspiration for this painting was simply seeing and liking the composition of the Kookaburra sitting on my TV antenna. He kindly stayed there long enough for me to rush inside to get my camera and photograph him.
STEP ONE
I usually start a new painting by looking through my stored digital photographs, on the computer, that I have taken over the years. Today I selected the kookaburra on the TV antenna photo because I like the contrast of the hard, geometric shapes of the antenna, opposed to the soft curves of the bird, naturemade verses man-made. Also, I wanted to do a small painting, as more detail can be seen after the image is reduced to fit on a page.
STEP TWO
I opened the photographed image of the kookaburra on the antenna in a photo-altering computer program. I then scaled the kookaburra close to life-size, added a 2cm yellow grid on top and cropped away the unwanted background to form my composition. I ended up with a painting size of 22 x 28cm.
Next I made some adjustments to the image. I didn’t like the bird’s beak touching one of the antenna arms, so I tilted the head a bit. I also didn’t like all those antenna braces, because it looked too busy, so I removed a couple. The vertical post behind the bird was too high,
so I lowered it. I thought a little colour would be good, so all the black plastic fixtures on the antenna were changed to a crimson colour. To create depth, I added some clouds on the bottom and put the moon in to balance the composition. I have photos of clouds and a moon already to use as reference.
Next, I printed this altered image from the computer, which will be my reference for the cartoon drawing. I also printed out the original photo (as in Step One), cropping away the unwanted areas, on a high quality, A4 size, photographic paper. This print was used as my detail reference when I started to paint in oils.
STEP THREE
Next step is to draw the cartoon (an outline) for the painting in pencil. I started by drawing the painting’s size on a sheet of thin Bank paper and then cut it out. After I marked the 2cm spaces along the edges, I then drew lightly the 2cm grid, the same proportion as on my print out (as in Step 2).
Next I drew the cartoon, using any means to make the antenna accurate. I used geometric stencils, a compass, a ruler and my printed out original photo as reference. For the kookaburra, I sometimes went back to the computer to lighten and enlarge the very dark areas, so as to
see the detail there on the monitor.
Finally, I taped the finished cartoon to the window, the front facing the glass, and shaded the back of the cartoon with a soft grey lead pencil, covering all the lines that I can see through the paper. Now the cartoon is ready to be transferred to the support.
STEP FOUR
For my support, I used a 4mm thick MDF board (Medium Density Fibreboard). From the large sheet, I cut out the 22 x 28cm piece for my painting’s support. I used a box-cutter and a steel rule on a cutting mat to patiently cut through the sheet. Then I lightly sanded along the edges.
Next I coated the board with a white ‘Primer-sealer-undercoat’ acrylic paint with a 6cm wide brush. I first painted the front, when dry, I then painted the back, so that the board doesn’t warp. Next I painted the edges to seal the board from moisture entering inside. I painted another coat on the back, then up to six coats on the front. To get a paper-finish texture, light sanding with a fine sponge sandpaper is recommended after each coat has thoroughly dried. The final coat of paint, on the front, was painted with a diluted white acrylic artist paint, with the consistency of thick cream. I used a soft 35 x 25mm Taklon synthetic bristle brush.
Before I started airbrushing the background (the sky and clouds), I first painted the darkest sky tone using the Taklon brush. I mixed acrylic Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue and a touch of Naphthol Crimson paints in a small glass jar, and mixed with water to a consistency of cream. I painted enough coats so the white undercoat could not be seen and, ever so lightly, I sanded in between each dry coat with a well-used, fine sponge sandpaper. Don’t sand after the last coat.
For the acrylic paint airbrushing, I used some of the sky colour already mixed and added in some white paint, for spraying on the lighter sky tones. The paint for the airbrush spraying was diluted with water to a milk consistency and filtered through some stockings type material to remove any impurities. The air compressor was set at 30psi. From the bottom to about two-thirds up, I airbrushed the lighter sky colour, spraying from side to side, starting closer to the painting at the bottom, then moving away from the board as I moved up. I gave it four light coats, waiting for the paint to dry after each coat, so it doesn’t run. I repeated the process again with two light coats of the cloud’s colour, Titanium White, with a touch of Yellow Mid. I only sprayed up about one-third of the painting to give the sky a soft, gradual, warm tone. Finally, I airbrushed in the clouds.
When all was dry, I taped the cartoon drawing onto the painting and traced the cartoon lines on to the board. I used a biro to clearly see if I missed any lines, and a ruler for the straight lines. For the rest, I just used freehand, as the curved edges will be evened-up by the paintbrush’s natural flow. I then removed the cartoon and now I’m ready to start the oil painting.
STEP FIVE
The first stage of oil painting is the ‘blocking’ or undercoat, and then followed by the final touch
up painting. I first like to start painting on objects that are behind, but in this case, the kookaburra is in between the antenna, so I decided to paint the antenna first.
The colours I used for the metallic parts of the antenna were Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue, Lilac, Naples Yellow, Titanium White and Yellow Ochre. First I mixed all the colours and tones that I plan to use on the palette, placing them next to each other in tonal order. I mixed the paint to a thick paste consistency, and if the paint from the tube was too dense, I diluted it with linseed oil. I made sure I mixed enough paint for the touch-up work in the future. I also placed a few drops of linseed oil on the palette to use later, when I need to dilute some paint to flow better along the straight edges. I used a 25 x 1mm bristle brush for painting the straight edges.
I like to start working from the edges first and don’t worry too much if the edges are not exactly straight, as they will be touched up later when dry. After the edges were done, I then painted the middle colour down the centre of the antenna’s arm, and then added the other tones of paint parallel to each other. If any paint went over my cartoon’s kookaburra guide lines, I wiped it away with the angular brush, cleaning the bristles after each wipe. While still wet, I started to blend the colours together, one row at a time, with a 15 x 1mm soft bristle brush, until I was happy with the blending. If too much paint built up on the bristles, I cleaned it off with an old rag. Again, don’t worry too much if the blending is not exactly perfect, it will be touched up after it has dried. For the finer work on the tips of the antenna’s arms, I used the 10 x 1mm brush.
Because I didn’t finish painting the entire antenna in one day, I stored the palette in the deep freezer overnight. The next day, after it thawed, I continued painting the antenna and the winged nut. When finished, I placed the palette in the freezer, for the future touch-up work.
Next I mixed the colours for the plastic parts of the antenna, Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Maroon, Titanium White, Alizarin Crimson and Lilac. Again, as for the antenna’s metal arms, I painted in all the tonal lines first, starting from the edges, and then blended each painted line.
STEP SIX
When the entire antenna was dry, I started my touching-up on the areas that didn’t look right, using the thawed out paint. I used the ‘dry-brush’ technique, where very little paint is on the 10 x 1mm brush, wiping most of the paint on a dry section of the palette, before I started the touch-up. If some paint has overlapped too much on the toned area beside it, I used the angular brush to wipe it away. If any part of the touched up areas still didn’t look right, I let it dry overnight and re-touched those areas later. I didn’t worry too much about any paint that went onto the sky area, as it would be touched-up later. But sometimes, if it was too thick, I scraped most of it away with an old, ‘pencilled sharpened’ wooden paint brush handle, wiping it clean after each scrape.
On a new palette, I mixed the moon colours Titanium White and Tasman Blue. I painted the white areas of the moon first with a 10 x 1mm brush,