Decorative painting is a simple process, made simpler with an easy pattern to go by. That is why I chose my Love Birds pattern to show you!
Simply Paint Birds – by Tom Shepherd (Paperback)
Painting birds doesn’t have to be technical or daunting, even for a complete beginner. Through friendly advice and clear instructions, expert artist and tutor Tom Shepherd shows the reader how to paint twenty-five varied birds in just a few steps each.
- Eagles
- Owls
- Macaw parrots
- Red cardinals
- Bluejays and
- Robins.
Tom’s step-by-step process for each bird is simple and achievable, and uses just 6 watercolor paints and a handful of brushes. His style is fresh and contemporary, and his clear instructions will allow anyone to achieve the loose results they desire very quickly.
About the Author
Tom Shepherd started his art career by creating custom artwork on guitars using graffiti pens. Making a move towards a brush and more traditional mediums opened up a whole new world to him, and he hasn’t looked back since. Tom loves painting a wide variety of subjects, but is always drawn back to the place where his first two passions met; painting wildlife, in particular birds.
Tom’s work has become widely collected across the world. He has been a highly commended finalist in the world-renowned Wildlife Artist of the Year on several occasions. Where possible he likes to combine his artwork with conservation efforts close to his heart. As well as involvement with various group exhibitions geared towards raising funds for wildlife and conservation; he also contributes a portion of sales each year to UK based Organisations such as WWT (Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust), raising many thousands of pounds for wildlife.
Tom is also a highly regarded, and much sought-after tutor. As well as running his own workshops, he travels all over the UK teaching and demonstration for Art Groups & Societies. He also leads painting holidays in beautiful rural France.
Tom co-hosts the podcast Ask an Artist, and runs successful remote painting classes through his School of Watercolour (schoolofwatercolour.co.uk)
Birds on a Branch Silhouette Painting
This birds on a branch silhouette painting is a beautifully simple painting that looks great just about everywhere. Try your hand at making this fun home decor project today!
Birds On A Branch Silhouette Painting
I made this birds on a branch silhouette painting for my daughter for Christmas. She recently moved into her first apartment and I wanted to give her a special gift. It had to be a surprise, though. I didn’t want her to know what it was. Let’s face it, when kids become young adults, Christmas presents aren’t really much of a surprise anymore, but I really wanted this one to be. Besides, her favorite holiday is Christmas and she has always loved the secret, magical element of it. So how could I disappoint her?
Looking for an easier painting for beginners? This Modern Circle Tree Painting is easy enough for just about anyone to tackle. Pick your favorite colors or the colors that match your decor and you have a simple and pretty piece for your home!
There are affiliate links in this post. That means if you buy something from that link, I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you anything additional.
I started snooping around on her Pinterest boards to see if there was anything I could draw inspiration from. Boy was I in luck! I came across this photo…
However, the link for the silhouette painting from Pinterest was a dead one, it went to a blog that had been closed down. I did some searching but couldn’t find the source of this lovely painting.
Now here’s a funny story. I finished the painting a few days before Christmas, but because my daughter is a Facebook fan of Crafts by Amanda, I couldn’t share my results there for fear of her seeing it. So instead I shared the photo with a group of craft blogger friends. My friend Colleen from Just Paint It replied saying she was almost finished with a very similar painting using the same inspiration! How’s that for a coincidence?
Anyway, my daughter absolutely loved it and has it hanging in her room. I have to say I’m really happy with how it turned out and almost wish I had made two simultaneously so I could have one too!
Here’s the painting I made for her when she moved into her new place. This one is hanging in her living room. White Cherry Blossom Tree Painting.
I started out by grabbing a screenshot of the Pinterest inspiration and printed it off and used that as my template. I scored some lines on the picture to give me a better feel of placement on the canvas since I would need to draw freehand.
I used Americana acrylic paints for this silhouette painting. Here are the colors that I used:
I started by painting the canvas with Light Buttermilk then softening the center with Warm White. I wanted it to have a little texture in the middle so I used a household sponge, applied the paint a little heavy, and dragged the sponge through in a criss cross type pattern.
I used the sponge for the entire background starting with Flesh Tone. Just dabbed it here and there, really random but following the frame of the inspiration photo. Next I used Traditional Raw Sienna, dragging and blending with the sponge, just until I liked how it looked. For the highlights, mostly at the top with some at the bottom, I used Butterscotch. As you can see from the paint in the pie tin I was not concerned about my colors touching each other, in fact it’s good to have them mix a little. It adds to the flow and dimension of your painting.
I darkened the corner and edges with Dark Chocolate and finished off the edge shading with Black. Once the paint was dry I sketched on the main outline of the branches and the birds.
The rest is really easy. It’s just black, so use a long liner brush to add all the branches and the outline of the birds. Fill in the birds with a flat brush. Use the liner to add smaller branches and simple leaves.
That really is it! I hope you like this beautiful silhouette painting, I had a blast making it and surprising my daughter with it. You can find more adult crafts like this Dandelion Painting I did for inside my studio, might I add, it’s one of my favorites!
Amanda Formaro is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four children. She loves to bake, cook, make kid’s crafts and create decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen and has appeared online and in print publications many times over the years. She is also the editor for the Home & Garden channel at Craft Gossip and owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com.
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Use a printer to decrease the size of the original pattern in order to fit your wood slice. For my project, I made the image 75% its original size. Color the back of the pattern with a charcoal pencil. (Another option would be to use carbon paper). Trace the pattern onto the wood.
Here the pattern has been traced onto the wood. For further clarity, I went over it in pencil.
The basics for shadow and highlights are simple. First paint in your base color.
Choose the side that light will be hitting. In this case, I chose the left hand side. Imagine that the sun is on that side. Everything on that side will be lighter. Add a touch of white paint to your base color and add in lighter highlights on the left side as shown above. (With acrylic paints, you may need to add in a bit of the base color along the edges and blend, as acrylics do dry quickly).
The right hand side would be in the shadows. Use the same technique above to add shadow to the right side, darker blue paint to your base color.
Here, I used the same technique and lighter colors to paint in the female bird.
Use a cranberry red to paint in the word LOVE, and add touches of color to the birds.
When doing a decorative painting, I try to incorporate a few colors throughout the entire work. In this case I used blue, light blue, cranberry red, green, light green, yellow and gold.
The final touch is to add more outlines, leaf veins and any other tiny additions with fine point permanent markers.
Once the project is entirely dry, add a coat of Matte Mod Podge to seal and protect your work.
I plan on creating a wood slice for each of my 12 Words to Live By as a fun bit of wall art. Or, you can use this pattern for other things…
I found this cute little wooden box at my local craft store for a dollar.
Using the techniques illustrated above, I resized the pattern to fit my box and painted another set of love birds.
Stay tuned for more free patterns and more project ideas!
Create something amazing and be sure to share it with us! I’d love to see what you come up with!
For over 200 crafty tutorials for all ages, visit my Tutorial Page!
