I have painted a goldfinch before but when I first started out with the birds, I hadn’t formulated a set idea regarding size, paper, style etc, so although they look similar, I definitely regard these as my ‘early birds’. Some are on branches or tree stumps, which I am less keen about, preferring the birds to be standing directly on the white background.
As with the jay and the bullfinch, I wanted to simplify the plumage to recreate the flash of colour that you see as they fly. I always have a dilemma regarding the amount of detail and artistic appeal as I want to maintain the clean lines and blocks of colour but still retaining the accuracy of the bird’s overall appearance. I couldn’t find a particularly good photo to use as a reference so I used the main shape of the bird in the Collins Guide and then filled in with information from other photos.
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