BY ROSALIE
I was inspired to compose a picture of the male and female King Parrots together from two separate photographs Beverley took of them feasting in the same tree.
The male has a mouthful of berries and the female seems to be eyeing her next tasty meal. The sexual dimorphism (colour difference) in these parrots is striking and adds to the interest.
I hope I’ve showcased that difference in the picture, but if you see the female alone she is very striking – to me anyway. I painted parts of the tree they are feeding on but wanted to focus on the portraits rather than the leaves and berries, I deliberately didn’t paint a “perch”.
In fact they clasp groups of stems of the tree as they balance to feed. After some time mixing colours to get a good approximation to what I saw as most like King Parrots in nature, and working out the leaf colours,
I started the painting with the leaves and berries, then moving on to eyes and beaks; if the eye is not right the painting won’t be…… I then moved on to the female then the male. It is always interesting to see the progress of the painting, you never know how it will turn out.
But this is how it did turn out!
Your thoughts? How have you managed to use reference photos for nature art?
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