If you enjoy creating colorful watercolor paintings, look no further than parrots. Crimson Rosella parrots brighten gardens and mountain forests "down under" in Australia and New Zealand. This tutorial will make it shine and sparkle even more with watercolor gold.
The Crimson Rosella parrot is shy and not talkative like most parrots. Humming to a tune is more its thing. Yet it makes a lovely pet with beautiful bright red and blue plumage.
Let´s get on with painting and decorating this pretty bird.
Step 1: Draw the parrot
Draw a loose sketch of the parrot. Pay attention to angles and negative space. Negative space is the shape of an area you don´t draw.
Step 2: Transfer the drawing to watercolor paper
Draw a clean outline of the parrot on transfer paper.
If you have a LED light tracing pad, put the watercolor paper over the outline and trace again.
You can trace my drawing. Download from the Level Up library. As a Level Up member, you also get a process video for this tutorial.
The free One Tree Art Club library has a big collection of outline drawings for watercolor tutorials on this site. (Already a free member? Go here).
Step 3: Watercolor colorful feathers and more
We are going to use watercolor gold paint creatively as decoration. The gold will dominate the painting. Therefore, you can paint a pretty flat coat of colors.
Dip your brush in water. Paint with just enough water to spread the color nicely. First, paint the red feathers. Let it dry. Then blue, and let it dry. Lastly, the black feathers and eye, and the faint yellow beak.
The stone requires a generous amount of water. Let brown and black blend. Soak up the edges with a sponge.
You can spice it up with colored pencils. But this step is not necessary.
Step 4: Decorate with watercolor gold paint
I have a tutorial on how to mix watercolor gold. It requires gold powder, Gum Arabic, and water. Nothing more. You can also purchase readymade watercolor gold. Find the ingredients for mixing here.
Use a fine, thin brush to paint with gold. Experiment first on a separate piece of paper. Test how to paint nice, clean lines. It requires the right consistency of the gold paste and the right amount of water.
To keep a pointed brush, twist the hairs after cleaning with water. You may need to do this more than once as you paint.
Let your imagination lead the brush. Forget about making a look-alike parrot. This is a decorative piece of art. Have fun and see what happens!
To finish off, I added a few white dots and colored pencils. I tidied up by drawing a thin, black outline around the figure.
Happy painting!
To watch the video below, become a One Tree Art Club LEVEL UP member. Paint along with me. As a Level Up member, you can also download line art for all the tutorials on this website.
Explore more tutorials:
How to Make Your Flower Painting Shine With Watercolor Gold
How To Make Gold Watercolor In Four Easy Steps
Illuminated Letter B Watercolor Tutorial With Gold Paint
Drawing with Colored Pencils: Realistic Cardinal Tutorial
How to Watercolor a Simple, Graceful Flamingo
