Painting Birds in Watercolour

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My watercolour efforts over the Christmas holidays

This is my first post of the year and to be honest I have been delaying putting it up as I was just waiting to get time to add the finishing touch! A watercolour magpie tutorial.

I wanted to add this latest watercolour bird demo but had to work out my new video software first! Now I have it sorted I am really happy to be videoing again and adding watercolour tutorials here and on my YouTube channel.

Over the Christmas break I had a lovely two weeks spent pottering and painting and reading (not to mention walking the dog).

Below are some of the seabirds that I have been inspired to paint following my reading "The Outermost House" and "The House on Nauset Marsh".

A yellow leg seagull with his head all cozied down into his plumage and a dainty plover with impossibly spindly legs![/caption]

If you are a beginner watercolour painter I hope this magpie tutorial will help.

Magpies are one of my favourite birds. They come flapping clumsily down onto my garden wall and look ridiculously big next to my more frequent sparrows, blue tits and robins.

They find it hard to balance on the wall where I leave mounds of special robin and blackbird food and I sit there spying them from indoors with a big smile on my face.

The magpie is so paintable isn't he? That dramatic black and white plumage and the iridescence of the blue-purple-green shades as the sun catches them makes a wonderful watercolour subject.