#7: Married Cardinal

"Married Cardinal"

Birch tree, colored pencils and bark

5"x8"

The subject of my creation are two cardinals (a male and female), which shows different layers of colored pencils. I followed my concentration by creating another Maine bird, which in this case are two cardinals. I wanted to use a birch tree again because I really enjoyed working with this type of surface the first time. I wanted to draw a bird with many colors, so I decided to use do another cardinal.

To make this piece, I started by finding objects relating to nature outside. I found some birch tree logs which had been cut down in my yard, so I decide to use one to paint on. I found a piece with the most white space I could and began to draw the cardinals from two different reference images. I drew the cardinals using colored pencils and trying to blend them the best I could. Then I hot glued bark onto the birch wood, so there was a base for the two birds. Lastly, my dad helped me cut the wood, so it wasn't as long and there wasn't as much waisted space.

Throughout this project, I used color. I did this by using many different colors throughout the birds. I used white to blend many colors together and polish the colored pencil. I also used texture, by experimenting with material choice, such as using a birch tree to draw on. I enjoyed working with this surface before, so I wanted to use it again using multiple subjects. One set back I faced was that the colored pencils kept pulling up the birch bark, so there are some places where white is showing underneath. My next steps in this project would be to keep layering the colored pencils and try to make the feet look more proportional to the bird.