The Speckled Throat Woodpecker is an interesting subject for artists to capture.
The Speckled Throat Woodpecker is an interesting subject for painters. The female Speckled Throat, with its fire red forecrown, fine white spots on its chocolate brown wings and small black dots on its milky white underbelly, is especially exquisite looking. This bird is pretty rare -- the species originates in Eastern Africa, more specifically in Tanzania -- so don't expect to see it sitting at the birdfeeder outside your door. Rely on books or the Internet for images to help you paint this beautiful specimen.
Instructions
1. Choose soft-edged brushes in varying sizes. Make sure to choose at least one very small brush that comes to a point for fine-line painting of such features as wing feathers. Since birds do not have any sharp edges that require brushes with stiff, straight edges, choose brushes that come to points.
2. Sketch an outline of your bird and some semblance of a background before you start painting. Use the pencil to note varying colors on the bird by shadowing areas that are darker.
3. Start by painting your background first as the bird should be in the forefront and dominate your painting. Eastern Africa has beautiful landscapes that include acacia trees, low-lying shrubs, open grassy plains and huge blue skies. The Speckled Throat will "pop" if you capture these simple but stunning backgrounds. Paint the trees, brush and sky with a mixture of paint and water and slightly blend the edges to give your scenery a washed, background look. Pay attention to where the bird's feet will be in the painting and what kind of "weather" your painting will have (sunny and bright, muted, etc.).
4. Paint underlying colors on your bird first and work up, painting section by section so that you can work with shadowing and color changes before your paint dries. Paint the white underside and head of the Speckled Throat first. Mix your white with black to add subtle shadow changes to the bird's body and head. Use a tiny amount of water to meld the bright whites and grays together to create shadow and dimension.
5. Paint the wings next. Paint a dark brown layer first to show the free-flowing shape of the entire wing, coming to a point at the end where the wings come together. Wait five minutes while the paint is still slightly wet, then using your finest pointed brush, start in the middle of the dark brown wing and paint fine curving strokes downward to the bottom with a slightly lighter brown to give the wing feathers detail.
6. Paint the forecrown of this beautiful bird using a crimson red paint. Before the paint dries, softly mute the top of the forecrown with a tiny speck of white or yellow to show sun lighting down upon the bird.
7. Wait 15-20 minutes for all of these sections to dry. Using a smaller brush, paint the finer details over these sections. The speckles on the wings should be painted as fine, white horizontal lines that almost look like small waves that at a distance connect into wavy horizontal lines across the bird's back. Add brown specks around the neck and in front of the forecrown (between the eyes) by "dotting" the head and underside with your brush.
8. Paint the beak yellow with a brownish-black tip and a very fine gray line to show separation between the lower and upper beak. This bird's claws are also brownish black. To create shadow, paint a fine, white line on top of each foot to duplicate sun beating directly down. Add a white speck in the eyeball to bring the bird to life.
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