Northern Parula
©2004 David Jansen
This painting will teach some of the interesting techniques that can be done with JansenArt Traditions Acrylics.
Palette:
JansenArt Traditions Acrylics
JA02 - Naphthol Red
JA03 - Naphthol Red Light
JA14 - Hansa Yellow
JA22 - Phthalo Green-Yellow
JA23 - Phthalo Green-Blue
JA24 - Phthalo Blue
JA26 - Ultramarine Blue
JA35 - Titanium White
JA42 - Carbon Black
JA43 - Raw Sienna
JA45 - Raw Umber

Mediums and Sealers
JAM01 - Glazing Medium
JAM02 - Extending & Blending Medium
JAM04 - Satin Varnish
JAM07 - Light Primer
 JansenArt Traditions Brushes:
JAB03 - #3 Round
JAB17 - #1 Short Liner
JAB24 - #6 Filbert
JAB25 - #8 Filbert

Other Supplies:
DT02 – DecoArt palette knife
Grey graphite pencil
Paper towels

Small wood tray is available from:
Annie's Heritage Woods
P.O. Box 3
Elizabethtown, PA 17022
http://AnniesHeritage.com
Preparation:
Using the Color Mixing Card as a guide, mix Raw Sienna + Titanium White + a touch of Raw Umber. To this add an equal amount of Light Primer. (Light Primer will seal and prepare the surface for decoration.) When this is all mixed together, hold palette knife next to the Value Scale. The background color should be a value 8. Add Raw Umber and Raw Sienna if the color is too light. Add Titanium White if it is too dark. Dry well and sand lightly. After sanding, wash the background with Raw Sienna + water, leaving some streaks for interest. Dry well and transfer pattern lightly with grey graphite.
Photo of wash colors from Step 1 and 2
Step 2 - Glazing the Objects: Remove graphite lines. Mix Hansa Yellow + water and a touch of Glazing Medium. Use this to wash over the strawberries, blossoms, bird's breast, and neck. (I used a filbert brush for this.) Make a bright green from Phthalo Green + Raw Sienna and Hansa Yellow. Wash over the leaves with this color.
Step 1: Basecoat all objects with a medium white made from Titanium White + a touch of Raw Umber and Raw Sienna. (This should be just a little lighter than the background. You can see this color if you look at the leaves on the left in this photo.) Dry well. Make smaller strokes of Titanium White in all objects. Streaks and texture are fine; this doesn't have to be perfect. The Titanium White will make lighter areas as seen in the next step. Using a small round brush, basecoat in the branches, stems, eye, and beak with Raw Umber.
Sideloading with Glazing Medium: Using a #6 or #8 filbert brush, that is wet with water, pick up some Naphthol Red on one side of the brush. On the other side of the brush, add a little Glazing Medium. The Glazing Medium will help keep the color on the side of the brush. If you get the color too far across the brush, pick up some more Glazing Medium on the opposite side and stroke on the palette. This will move the color back.
Step 3: Using the sideloaded filbert brush, stroke down both sides of the strawberry, leaving some of the yellow showing for a highlight in the center of the strawberry.
 Step 4: Using a small #3 round brush, add some strokes to the bird's breast area. (We will be washing additional color over these strokes later so do not worry about making them perfect.)
Technique Note: When you add a lot of water to make a color transparent, you should also add some Glazing Medium. The Glazing Medium will help the paint stick to the surface better. Water thins out the binder or "glue" in the paint. Glazing Medium will add the "glue" back to the paint assuring it will not be removed.
 Step 5: Using the round brush, mix some Raw Umber, a touch of Carbon Black and Phthalo Blue. Wash this in for the back (inside) of the bird’s wing. Streaks are good and will add more interest.
Step 6: Pick up a little more paint so the color is just a little more opaque. Add some long lines to the front edges of the wing for the flight feathers. Do both sides of the wings. They can also be seen in the picture for the next step.
Step 8: Mix Ultramarine Blue + a tiny touch of Raw Umber and Titanium White. Add some Glazing Medium and make this transparent with water. Wash onto the head area making sure you don't cover up all the yellow and white areas.
Step 7: Using the same color as step 6, add some dark touches around the eye and in the cheek area where the yellow and white are coming together.
Step 9: Using the same color, wash some on the wings and body to create some roundness. (The bird will have a white breast so don't go too far into the breast area.) Wash down the tail leaving some white in the center area.
Step 10: Using a filbert brush and the same color from Step 8, wash over the blossoms so that they have a little of the color we used on the bird. (Don't do too much. We don't want them to be blue flowers.)
Step 11: Mix Phthalo Green-Blue + Raw Umber 1:1. Sideload on a # 8 filbert brush and tap on leaf shadows. Make sure the shadows go along the petal edges. This will make the leaves go under the blossoms. Tap a little color down the middle of the leaf for a vein line. Step 12: Sideload the filbert brush with Naphthol Red + a touch of Carbon Black. Stroke down the sides of the strawberries to give them additional shadows. Leave some of the first wash of red showing.
Step 13: Sideload the filbert brush with Raw Umber + touch Naphthol Red and tap on the blossom petals around the centers. Vary the amount used on each petal for more interest. If one petal overlaps another, you can add a little of this color on the bottom petal.
Overall Photo of Shadows
Step 14: Mix Ultramarine Blue + a tiny touch of Raw Umber. Dress this on a #3 round brush. Add some Glazing Medium and a little water to make the color transparent. Add some additional dark strokes on the bird’s head. Do not cover up all the original colors...just darken a few blue areas for interest. Step 15: Using the same color and brush, add a few darker strokes to the wings and flight feathers.
Step 16: Using the same color and brush, add a few darker strokes to the tail feathers. Step 17: Using the same color and brush, add a few darker strokes to the body to create more roundness. Add more water and Glazing Medium; wash over very transparently some of the feathers in the center breast area. (We need to do this so that we can later create white highlights that will have more interest.)
Step 18: Using the same color, fully load a #8 filbert brush and glaze over the blossom petals to add additional blue. Step 19: Using a #3 round brush dressed in Raw Umber + a touch of Carbon Black, add some darker shadows to the branches and stems.
Step 20: Using the same color, add a few dark touches to the eye and beak. Step 21: Puddle on some light orange in the centers of the strawberries: To do this, give the surface a light, even coat of Extender Medium. On the palette, mix some Naphthol Red Light + Hansa Yellow. Add lots of water, a little Glazing Medium, and a touch of Extender. Wet the surface with extender before puddling on the color.
Step 22: Use the same color glaze on a few blossom petals as a tint color. Keep it transparent by making sure you have some Glazing Medium in the color for added "glue". Step 23: Mix a lighter green from Phthalo Green + Raw Sienna 1:1 and then adding a touch of Hansa Yellow and Titanium White. Brush mix in some Glazing Medium to make this a little transparent. Fully load the filbert brush and stroke from the tip of each leaf toward the shadows. Do not cover all the shadow near the blossoms or strawberries.
Step 24: Mix Titanium White + a touch of Raw Sienna and Raw Umber. Add some Glazing Medium and a little water. Glaze and tap into the center of each blossom petal to soften the shadows and tints. See the blossom in the upper left that is finished.
Step 25: Tap some of the light color from step 24 into the center areas of the bird to soften the colors. (I used the chisel edge of a filbert so I did not make perfect little feathers.)
Step 26: Mix some Naphthol Red Light + Raw Sienna + Hansa Yellow with a touch of Titanium White. (This will make a soft, light orange.) Puddle some of this into the center of the strawberries, using the same puddle technique as in step 21. Step 27 - Glazing the Edges: Mix Naphthol Red + Raw Umber + a touch of Raw Sienna to make a nice toned or soft red color. Give the edge of the tray a light, even coat of Extender Medium. While the edge is wet, mix a little Extender Medium into the red color and brush onto the edge. While this is wet, take the edge of a paper towel and wipe the red color. The more you wipe, the more you begin to take off. Remove as much as you desire. Leave some streaks for interest.
Step 28 (Please See Video Build Petal Edges): Using a #6 or #8 filbert brush, sideload with Titanium White to make the petal edges. Add a little Glazing Medium to make the color slightly transparent. Use some Glazing Medium on the side of the brush without color, if necessary, to force the color onto the side of the brush. Push the brush on the side with color as you go down the edge. Flatten the brush through the center of the petal to make it softer. Use the non-color side of the brush to fade or soften any color. Stroke down the sides of petals that sit on top of other petals. If one petal sits over another on both sides, then stroke down both sides. Step 29: Using a #3 round brush dressed in Titanium White + a little Glazing Medium, add some light strokes to the bird’s breast. Use short "choppy" strokes to make it look like feathers. Add a few to the head, body, and wings. Don't get too many, just a few for interest.
Step 30: Dress the brush with Raw Sienna and tap down the top sides of the branches and stems. Tap a little into the centers of the flowers. When it is dry, add a little Hansa Yellow and a tiny touch of Titanium White to the Raw Sienna to lighten and tap a few small highlights on the branches. Step 31: Pick up some Hansa Yellow, Glazing Medium, and a little water; glaze over the yellow areas on the bird’s body. Leave a few white areas in the center of the yellow area for interest.
Step 32: Mix Ultramarine Blue + Titanium White + a touch of Raw Umber. Add some Glazing Medium. Stroke onto the blue areas to add a soft blue highlight. Please be careful not to paint out all the layers we have added. Just a few strokes soften and lighten. Step 33: Add small touches of Titanium White as highlights to the beak, eye, or anywhere you might have painted them out.
Step 34: Mix a lighter green from Phthalo Green? + Raw Sienna 1:1. Then add a touch of Hansa Yellow and Titanium White. Make this color lighter than what is on the leaf at this time. Using smaller strokes in the center of the leaf, add some highlights. Streaks of color are fine and will add more interest. Step 35: Mix Phthalo Green? + Raw Umber 1:1; add a little water and Glazing Medium. Add the dark strokes for the strawberry branches and then add a few transparent accent strokes in the design. Go down one side of a few leaves for interest. (See photo for step 36, which shows accent strokes and these leaf strokes.)
Step 36: Use the light green leaf color from step 23 to add a few light strokes on the strawberry branches.
Finishing Steps
1. Using a liner brush and Titanium White, outline the blossoms, leaving a small space between the petal edge and outline. (This will make them look more "airy".) Sideload this color in a small filbert brush and make the accent blossoms using the petal edging technique.
2. Mix Naphthol Red + Raw Umber and a touch of Carbon Black. Add some dark dots to the strawberries. Add a little of this color to centers of the blossoms if needed as well as to the centers of the small accent flowers.
3. Mix Raw Sienna + Hansa Yellow. Add a few dots to the strawberries. Tap a little of this color into the centers of the blossoms. Add some Titanium White to this color to lighten, adding just a few dots to the strawberries and a few taps to the blossom centers.
4. Wash transparent Raw Sienna around the edge of the tray. (I used a # 6 filbert brush; it was the perfect width.) When that is dry, outline with Naphthol Red + Raw Umber and a touch of Carbon Black. This is done on the frame also.
5. Dry the piece well and give two coats of JansenArt Satin Varnish. (I add just a little water to the first coat to thin it out and to allow more working time.)

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