As mentioned many times before I always start at the head. The beak has so much detail even at this young age. It didn’t have all the scars, chips and cuts thats the adults have but it definitely had plenty shades of grey, no not 50 shades of grey, thats just fiction.

Anyway I think with only a few stokes of the paint with a fine brush I managed to give the magpie a nice glossy eye.

I must admit I really enjoy painting with only white and grey paint it seems to simplify the whole painting process. If I every do some art classes as part of my exhibition I’ll definitely look at painting a magpie or a black swan.

For the head I used almost a dry brush with neutral grey paint thinned with water and then the highlights with pure paint.

The neck I used white paint wash and gradually add more and more paint and less water, giving you a solid colour.

The chest was painted using the side of a chisel brush with almost dry paint, I found gave the best results. Then to highlight the feathers I would use a fine brush and dab white on the ends of each feather.

The stack of dvd’s to the left were so I could try and setup a time-lapse recording while I paint. It wasn’t very successful as I needed to be right above my artwork and not off to the side. A future problem I’ll try and solve one day.

My desk layout when I’m painting, for the last few months I’ve had two sheep watching me paint, these were made by a friend.

Since people have been asking here is a close up of the two porcelain sheep I purchased while at a business course for artists a few months ago. Barbara and Woolliam.

The wing feathers were super quick as they were only a slight white line for each feather.

Painting the feather on the juvenile magpies shoulder took a little longer creating all the little wispy down. I was trying to achieve the light fluffiness of each one.

The white feathers are a little harder because it not just a case of just adding white paint because you will get a very flat look. You still need to add shadow, true colour and highlights to each one.

At the very last minute I decided to paint the magpie standing on a rocks rather than the wooden seat.

It’s not very often that I draw something right out of my head but I thought I would try it for a change and see what was hiding up there in the empty space between my ears .

Luckily for me there were a couple of rocks with the correct dimensions for the magpie to stand on.

So my friends were right after all, I do have rocks in my head.

Finished artwork ready to hang in none reflective glass.