I was trying to create a nice soft out of focus back ground, which seems is a little more difficult than I first thought.

This time I didn’t use masking fluid, I only saturated the paper where I was planning to place the paint for the background.

I think I may have made the background a little too dark and didn’t realise until I started painting the dove.

I liked painting the dove as I got to use a few colours that I wouldn’t normally use. The blue chest was a little difficult with all the pointy feather patterns but after awhile I was getting the hang of them.

After I painted the dove I realised that the background seemed to be a little distracting and not quite what I wanted.

Sometimes things don’t always work out and this was now a mission to save my painting with a little rework.

In the end I just made the background up with a few nice patterns that resembled banana leaves. I also created darker edges and leading lines to bring the focus back onto the bird.

In the end I think I managed to save my painting as someone also like it enough to purchase it a few months ago along with 3 other bird painting. So in the end the extra little effort paid off.