Lately I seem to be creating a lot of different birds! This one started with some loose, contour drawings of chickens, which I think are funny birds. I love the variegated feathers and textures on the birds. After I completed some drawings, I used my tracing paper to combine some of them into a pleasing design. I didn’t use all my sketches — some will be for a rainy day!

Instead of beginning with the shapes of the chickens, I added the light peachy color for the background, knowing that it would be difficult to add the background after applying the jagged edges of the feathers. I worked on all three chickens, adding and subtracting shapes. For the main bird, I added some rice paper on top and washes of magenta watercolor in drybrush to integrate it on the surface.