New Cradled Wood Pieces

I'm working again on small cradled wood pieces.  For me it seems that three at a time is the perfect number, and I bring them along to completion together.

This works because there are so many steps involved.

First, choose the design and draw it.  I just lay it down with my Pitt pens, no pencil needed.  It's a rare case when I need a pencil for erasing; usually when the design is seriously complicated.

Second I painted in the background for the cardinal.  Fat little fellow!  I'm kind of liking the way the blue bled into the cardinal's breast and head; might leave it that way.  We'll see.

Then I took a white gouache to lightly cover all three birds so that when I do lay down their colors, they'll glow.  After that I painted my man with a Rowney blue, some watercolor yellow, and a sweet cranberry ink I lovingly protected all the way back from Fresh Paint in Minnesota.  My plans were to add many layers to all three of these, but I like the guy the way he is so I'm not going to add anything.  My next post will show you how I seal it.