Step-by-step Process

Step-by-step Process slideshows

A breakdown of key processes and steps for several of my wildlife watercolors. with photos taken while I was painting, to capture specific techniques and pocesses.

Tim: steps to an International award winning work.

Step 1: Reference

Step 1: Reference

When I heard that one of the last and largest of Kenya's giant tuskers, Big Tim, had died of natural causes in March 2020, I was saddened, not just for the passing of this iconic gentle giant, but because I never got the opportunity to photograph or paint him while he was alive.
Thankfully, world renown wildlife photographer, Tim Yarrow, had taken some spectacular photos of Tim just before he died (Tim, not David!).
This truly dramatic, strongly lit portrait was my inspiration and reference.

Step 11: Left ear started

Step 11: light side of head

I glaze over the background wash with light tones of Hansa Yellow, Permanent Orange and Burnt Sienna, and use Alazarin Crimson and Prussian Blue to block in the shadowed areas of Tim's left ear. I also paint in the lighter side of the trunk in slightly deeper tones, as the trunk curves down away from the late afternoon light and I extend wrinkles from the shaded side of the trunk for continuity.

Completed painting

Completed painting

I tweak details everywhere and lay in multiple soft glaze layers to deepen the overall tone and soften wrinkles and crevices, aiming for a natural sunset lighting effect. Hopefully I have captured a fraction of Tim's majesty and presence, as well as his age and vulnerability. David's photo has the benefit of naturalism and authenticity, which I couldn't hope to replicate, but hopefully I have done David and Tim justice.

Cape Buffalo Painting Process

Step 1: Reference

Step 1: Reference

I took this photo of a cape buffalo while on safari as Sweetwaters, in Nanyuki, Kenya, 2017. I added a more impressive set of horns from a photo by Vicki Jaron, downloaded with her kind permission from Getty Images

Step 14: Lay in horns

Step 14: Block in Horns

I lay in a loose wash of Rose Madder to set the base tone for the horns, then using the lightbox to see the complex ridges in my black and white reference outlines, taped underneath the paper, I use wet-on-wet to loosely define the ridges and striations and basic highlight areas of the horns.
I drop in some cobalt blue to set up the tone for upper horn tips.

Moneypenny: a secretary bird by the numbers

Step 1: Reference

Step 1: Reference

I had photographed many secretary birds, mainly at the Nairobi National Park, over the years, but always at a distance and never with a telephoto lense, so when I decided to attempt a secretary bird painting I trolled the web and found this amazing photo. It turns out that the photographer was none other than my friend Simon Thomsett, co-founder of Kenya Bird of Prey Trust! He had no idea how National Geographic got hold of it but gave me his kind permission ti use it.

Step 4: Eyes

Step 4: Start with the eyes

I started with the eye and Moneypenny's striking red and orange makeup. Secretary birds have very long, luxurious eyelashes, which I painted in black gouache One of the very rare times I ever use black paint from the tube!). I used aquarelle pencils and gouache to highlight the pebbled skin. this is the only part of the painting that uses gouache or aquarelle. The rest is 100% pure watercolor, meaning every feather is highlighted in reverse, leaving delicate whit etendrils of clear or lightly tinted paper to "lift" each feather from its darker background. It's time consuming, tense and tedious work, But I enjoy the unique pure result. I admit I'm something of a watercolour snob.

Step 10: primary feathers

Step 10: Primary feathers

The black for the primary feathers was mixed using Burnt Umber, Van Dyke Brown, Prussian Blue and Payne's Grey. I almost never use black out of the tube. It is a dead colour and there is no true pure black in nature. By mixing my own blacks, I can also control the warmth of coolness of the tone. I created blooms for texture and fine-lined the feather barbs, even though many won't be obvious on tope of the deep base tones.

Step 11: tweak the bill

Step 11: Tweak the bill

My friend Simon, one of the world's leading raptor experts, always serves as my visual proof reader when I am painting birds of prey. For this piece he pointed out that I had missed the defining, small ridge near the base of the upper mandible, that the beak was nowhere near sharp enough and the nostril slit was too compressed. Thanks, Simon, for keeping my work accurate and credible!

Completed painting

Completed painting

The finished piece captures, hopefully, the stern majesty of this walking raptor. Secretary birds are unique among raptors in that they stalk their prey from afoot. They have exceptionally longs legs, with black knee length feathery "pantaloons", and stand as high as four feet. They prey on small mammals and lizards but are renowned for hunting snakes, which they kill with lightning fast kicks. They can kick faster than a snake can react!

Roy, the chimpanzee from Sweetwaters, stages and techniques

Step 1: Reference

Step 1: Reference

I hung out with Roy and his troop over several, multi-day visits to Sweetwaters in Nanyuki, Kenya, and took stacks of intimate, expressive portrait photos. He always seemed to be evaluating me! And he was hilariously mischevious when not in a pensive mood.

Grey crested crane, step-by-step

Step 1: Reference

Step 1: Reference

I was not happy with any of my own crane photos, so I trawled the web and came up with this stunningly lit shot of a crane flexing his magnificent wings, by Shawn Olsesen.
I sought his permission, admittedly after the fact, and based my painting on his exquisite photo, using some of my own close up head photos for detail reference.

Step 3: Background

Step 3: Background

I mask out delicate areas, which will be lighter than the background, like the fine crest feathers, then apply clear water to the background area, leaving a blank silhouette of my subject space. Once covered I very quickly lay in a wet-on-wet wash, blending pthalo blue, a tiny amount of prussian blue and primarily, cobalt. Here you can see th ebloom effect in one area.

Step 15: blocking in primaries

Step 15: block in primaries

I use very loose wet-on-wet and deliberate blooms to block in the charcoal-colored, upper primary feathers. I will keep these feathers very loose, without much glazing for definition, so the texture, rather than the detail, dominates. The quills are lifted by dragging a stiff wet #3 synthetic pointed round brush along the quill line, then dabbing with tissue to remove paint.

Step 16: Beginning the coverts and rear wing

Step 16: Beginning the coverts and rear wing

I block in the rear wing, using wet-on-wet, blooms and glazing to loosely define feather masses. Then I start defining the contours of the outer coverts of the front wing, working from top outer edge, inwards and downwards.
White feathers are especially difficult, in watercolor, as every layer of glazed or wet-on-wet paint darkens the underlying pigments. In order to achieve any sense of luminance, it is more about what you don't paint, than what you do.

An augur buzzard by stages

Step 1: Reference

Step 1: Reference

I met and photographed Gene, the augur buzzard at the Kenya Bird Of Prey Trust, in Naivasha. Augur buzzards have spectacular charcoal and white markings, commonly sporting a classic falcon moustache.
Gene is an awesome specimen, posing with contrived indifference, and manifesting a fierce dignity, even in repose.

Start to finish: greater kudu

Step 1: Reference

Step 1: Reference

I had spotted a greater kudu in 2013 in the Maasai Mara, but didn't have a camera on me, so when I decided to paint one as part of my conservancy fundraiser project last year, I found a few creative commons photos.

Step-by-step little sparrowhawk

Step 1: Reference

Step 1: Wrong Reference!

I have never seen a Little Sparrowhawk, but I knew of them and wanted to paint them, especially when I found what I thought was a photo of a Little Sparrowhawk on and old Facebook page – the Naivasha Owl Centre, run by my Friends, Shiv Kapila and Simon Thompsett . My buddies now operate the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust, and actually saved the day halfway through the painting by showing me images of a recent rescue, which was the right species. The original image I was working froim turned out to be a Shrika, a close relative, with Red Eyes, much like the Northern Goshhawk from the USA and Canada.

Step 5: Start with theeye

Step 5: Start with the eye

I had used an image from Kenya Bird of Trust's old facebook page – the Naivasha Owl Centre: https://www.facebook.com/naivashaowls/, of a rescue called 'Hero", which, as it turned out was not a Little Sparrowhawk, but a Shrika. Shrikas are close cousins, but, critically, their eyes are red/orange eyes instead of the deep gold/yellow of the Little Sparrowhawk.
Ultimately this mistake came back to bite me, requiring gouache over-painting, which as a watercolorist, is a technique I typically despise! It was a shame, as the eye came out pretty well. I laid in a wet-on-wet wash of the head and throat areas before painting the eye, leaving reflections as mostly paper color, soften with subtle over-glaze. Colors are Pyrol red and alazarin Crimson. Pupil is Payne's Grey, Prussian Blue and Burnt Umber – not black!

"Hero" the rescue Shrika, who sadly, died shortly after being rescued.

Step 6: Starting primaries

Step 6: Primary feathers first

Using a combination of wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry, i start laying in the barred patterns of the leading primary feathers and start to loosely define the russet flank, with its beautiful barring patterns.
I paint the topmost feathers first, and wait for each feather to be dry before painting the one underneath. This way, if I want to paint shadows directly into the wet-on-wet underlying feather while it is still damp, preventing the shadow from bleeding to the feathers above. In this instance I patterned the feathers first and over-glazed shadows in a later step. Not yet settled on a preferred technique!

Step 7: Painting secondaries

Step 7: Painting the secondaries

Secondary feathers are typically held closer together than the primaries and are less pointed. They are responsible for most of the lift a bird gains from flapping, hence their curved profile, while primaries add some lift but are mostly critical for guidance. Raptors have amazing muscle control of their primaries, allowing them to tilt and readjust as they dive or hover.
I complete the primaries and add in the secondaries at the lower outside of the wing, and add to the flank and throat areas.

Step 8: Starting Inner wing

Step 8: Painting the inner coverts

Coverts are softer feathers, adding dimension for lift and strength to support the primaries and secondaries. They occur in multiple layers. I lay in the base for the inner coverts, paying attention to not only the patterning, but also laying in softly bled shadows to create dimension. Then I laid in a loose wet treatment of the rear wing.

A diagram of the wing parts of a bird, from Avian Report:

Step 10: over-painting the eye

Step 10: Over-painting the eye

After discovering that the reference photo I had used for the head area was actually from a Shrika, i reached out to Simon Thompsett, of the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust who provided me with photos of an actual Little Sparrowhawk, named Sax, which had been recently rescued. I then, in an agony of guilt and feeling every bit like a forger, over-painted the eye in gouache. Little Sparrowhawks are also differentiated by having longer middle toes, so I had to use gouache and even a layer of white acrylic to fix that portion.
I preferred the "pure" watercolor red eye, but accuracy prevails in ornothological paintings.

A photo of "Mini" a Little Sparrowhawk, that was rescued last year, by Kenya Bird of Prey Trust.