Cardinals painting and oil pastel

One bird that we think of during winter is the cardinal.

We will be working on a project with the topic being a cardinal. First part we need to look at is the color red. By the end of this lesson you will learn about red and its relationship with other colors.

Experiment with red how many different colors of red can you mix using the water colors? What happens when you mix red and green? What is the relationship between red and green, besides being holiday colors?

Lets watch a clip of a real cardinal Think about 3 or more things that you notice as an artist write them down

What things did you notice?

Project 1: Oil Pastel and Pencil

1. Watch the video part 2 first then part 1 we will be doing the bird first then working on the back ground.

2. Optional: Since this lesson is on the use of color, you have the option of using a bird tracer or drawing your own bird.

3. Start your bird using techniques shown in the video and demonstrated by your teacher.

4. Work on your back ground. Remember how she blacked around the bird and holly this is so you do not see your pencil lines. Draw you greenery and holly

5. Options are either finishing the background up with the pastels or you may use black watercolor and green mixed with black stippled around the background.

Oil pastel and pencil drawing

Part 2 the BIRD

Part 1 The background and Holly

Project 2: Painting

Time lapse painting of a cardinal Watch how the artist uses blocking in color. Just becasue the cardinal is painted red does not mean you are done that is only the first step!

1. Draw your bird or since this is not a drawing lesson you may trace your bird. This shows your placement of your bird.

2. Paint your sky a nice tine layer of blues and whites. The calm after the winter storm. Use the painting techniques you have learned from other painting projects start with white on your canvas and then add blue as needed.

3. Using a small round or liner brush add you trees, or other option is using the fan brush to create pine needles. Use your knowledge from creating grass, palm trees and chistmas trees with the fan brush.

4. Block in your bird with a medium tone red.

5. Use lighter reds tintsor highlights and darker reds shades for shadows.

Watch this artist draw a cardinal

Student examples: