With the debut of my remodeled etsy store a week ago, my sweet grandmother was my very first customer – and I was delighted to have a purchase on the first day! 
She picked out the rainbow koi painting I did this summer while at home. In fact, I remember that I finished it on the day my family left for Yellowstone.
The thing is, I’ve been meaning to make her something for at least a year now. She even bought me a cool all-around art set a few months ago!! =) Knowing that she likes ducks, I set out to get creative.
Found reference photos:
I didn’t even know that these beautiful, colorful birds existed til I googled “colorful ducks”! They are very majestic and totally inspirational. 
Foundations to any of my paintings: a rough sketch of my potential color scheme and a sound drawing. This one was 16×20″, the largest paper I have.
Lay down the water resist (a liquid plastic called frisket) and set to work!
Okay, so the truth is I am a complete amateur when it comes to smooth and beautiful watercolor washes. On the left (above), the fanning orange feathers turned out not too shabby. On the right, the bird’s neck was a complete failure for me. If you can’t get it on the first brush swipe, your pigments are pretty much shot – and the more you try to mend it, the worse it becomes. I was attempting to achieve darker coloring on the purple and green areas and I would have been smarter to do a solid first wash. That’s how watercolors should be! One and done.
Left: This green/yellow belly was patched with multiple swipes, but salvageable because of the bleeding that gave it a more beautiful effect. (the second belly turned out much worse!)
Luckily, I got the face coloring right on and inked the eyes and outlines. To me, faces are the number one most important feature of an image. If I can’t get the face right, I fix it with opaque paint or scratch the picture.
What’s really surprising to me about how this portrait came out was the water. For the most part I went over this section just once and that’s what makes it work. The continuity of the pigment wash combined with the sections divided by my frisket produced phenomenal gradients that look realistic. I actually had no idea what I was doing and just crossed my fingers that it would look okay. My boyfriend was impressed! I also decided to leave the frisket in place rather than ultimately removing it – because of its blue-green coloration, it blended perfectly. Replacing that effect with bright white would have been a bad move.
Lastly, I planned to use acrylics to add in the thin orange neck feathers. That was pretty much a no-go with my inadequate skills in acrylic brushing, and I think the birds finished with plenty of color to be fine without their special neck feathers. There was no easy way to do it. =/ That’s a challenge I’ve faced on other pictures too, that leaves me stumped… (painting over existing paint) and projects get abandoned. Watercolors take a lot of planning!
I’m more or less satisfied with how it turned out. I think the top duck’s belly is an eyesore, but I only made it worse the more I modified it and overall the picture is okay despite it. XD
On another note, I did a little model sketching on a photo by JaimeIbarra (super amazing photographer) and it turned out okay. Sent it to my good friend for his birthday this November
Keeping busy in school keeps me busy after school! I really like that part about dental school so far.
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