After the challenges of the first painting attempt, using such a small original, I tried with a different subject, on a bigger scale.

A white background would’ve just complicated my layer, given the issues I ran into trying to mix my colours. So I started with blue – smart uh?

Not so much – a massive blurb of yellow covered it, making me think it might have been a useless strategic decision 🙂

Controlling the drawing was really challenging, with blue and yellow turning into green (magic!) and completely out of my control. I was successful enough making something resembling a straight line of a tree branch:

Eventually, many layers and favorite beers later, I toned down the background, merged yellow and blue, and added some shy highlights to its feathers. The darker eyes and white highlights made a massive difference. As I learned, oil is all about different layers – they need to be taken one at a time, letting the previous one dry (it takes up to a week) and covering it with the next, adding depth.