A Robin

Hi all,
One of the things I could never master when doing traditional art, was painting leaves. I knew what I wanted them to look like, but I could never achieve anything like a satisfactory result.
Here is an example.

Okay, they probably aren't the worst leaves you've ever seen, but they are not as good as I would like. The big issue for me is the veins. Because it isn't possible to paint a fine light line over dark paint, there were only two options. The first was to use masking fluid to mask out the lines, but it never worked for me because the masking fluid wouldn't go on fine enough. I tried using just about everything from a bent nail to a spider's leg but it was still no good. The other method I tried was to paint around the veins. If ever you've tried that method you will also know that life is far too short.

So in the painting I've just completed I set myself the challenge of painting some realistic looking autumnal leaves, and because leaves on their own don't make for a fantastic composition, I added a robin.

I know, summer has hardly arrived yet and I am painting autumnal scenes with a Christmas robin, sorry about that. Anyway, here is a picture of the finished painting.

I think it would make a nice sympathy card. I also think you will agree that the painting of the leaves is much better than the one a above. It is so much easier using digital media, fine lines of the lightest colour will cover even the blackest black so it has to be a winner. All you need to do is concentrate on painting your image not wrestle with ways to achieve it.

If you would like to see how I painted the image I have made a short youtube video. Here is the link.

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