Parrot Painting

Happy New Year! I thought I would start off 2009 with a painting. This was part of a series of bird paintings- all acrylic on canvas. I think the size on this was 16" x 20". This was when I was painting a lot in acrylics. With acrylics, I would often paint backgrounds with the airbrush (blending acrylics over a large area can be maddening).

The parrot was painted with thin layers applied traditionally with the brush, alternating every so often with transparent color applied with the airbrush. I continued to alternate brushwork and airbrush glazing to build up the form and details.