I thought it would be interesting and perhaps helpful to see how our new Peacock design came about. It is a good illustration of the process involved and how Dennis and I share the art.
A peacock is a spectacular bird and also has been very trendy in our market. So why not!
After I gathered reference I began to watercolor using my chinese brushes. I use them almost exclusively these days.
Just in case the tail didn’t come out right I painted it separately then added it to my bird.
When I showed my peacock to dennis he liked everything but the tail. The design of the feathers was kind of hodgepodge. Too exacting for my way of watercoloring.
So I repainted the basic colors of the tail as well as one feather. I added the lower part of the body to the tail. Now I had a headless peacock.
In the meantime I had repainted the tail and where it attached to the body and the start of the neck. The original Head was still separate and then that got attached. A bit like surgery.
The head got reattached and Dennis did a magnificent job of placing the feathers on the tail. We added type to the background and added blue poppies.
Blue poppies that I had previously painted. And added type to the background.
Texture and color were added to the background and we both agreed that our Peacock was completed.
- A feather in my cap- not a real one!
And one for Dennis too!