I use thin washes, working from the lightest light to the darkest dark in this watercolour demonstration, slowly working towards the darker tones to add depth to the painting.
The painting was mostly wet on dry, building with thin washes and short brush strokes to suggest the body feathers. Don't try to paint every individual feather on a bird like this. You only have to paint the impression and the viewer's eye will do the rest. I used the side of a rigger to dry brush the grain of the tree by dragging it gently across the grain of the rough paper.
You can learn a lot about using watercolours by copying and practicing from this picture and others that I will be posting over the coming months.

Colours used were Winsor&Newton Neutral Tint, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Warm Sepia and Sap Green.

Paper: Bockingford 300g rough white watercolour paper.

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