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Animal Quilt - Hyacinth Macaw

The next animal in my endangered species quilt is the Hyacinth Macaw. This beautiful bird is a rich, deep blue color and I was worried I wouldn't be able to capture it well with the inks I have. I have one bright blue color. That's it and I could see at least 4 shades of blue so I worried weather or not I'd be able to capture it correctly.



I started with the background first. I think the blue bird intimidated me. I chose greens and yellows since they live in tropical areas and filled the areas with long streaking motions. I also filled in the tree limb with a shade of brown.

Then I generally filled in the bird with blue color not really paying any attention to shades/highlighted areas.



The pictures show more darker blues and even a deep purple blue on the bird as well as more tree limb definition.

Then I added some highlights and yellow around the eye and bill. Now, I had a major problem. Gray from the beak bled into the yellow area and the yellow ink is very transparent and no amount of yellow applied would turn that area yellow. So the white is much more opaque so I painted the yellow areas with white and let that dry.




More dark blue was applied to the bird as well as some highlights. Then I applied a coat of yellow to the eye/beak areas and it worked quiet well. Black was added to the bill/feet.

Here is the final bird.  I wasn't thrill with it but I think I got some good lines with the really dark blue and the white really helps. I think he looks pretty playful too which is exactly how I think most parrots are.



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