Follow along as we paint the watercolor Blue Jay together!
I actually had a hard time choosing the reference photo for this bird. I was first drawn to the photos where it shows its feathers with the striking details. But then I saw this reference photo (see below), and thought that it would be more of a challenge to capture the soft white and grey body of the bird. So let’s dive in and paint this bird together.
Grab the sketch and for eleven other birds here!
Level of Difficulty: Intermediate
Supplies:
- Paint: LUKAS Aquarell 1862 Watercolor
- Brush(es): Creative Mark’s Watercolor Brushes, round size 000, 2, 3, 6
- Paper: Grumbacher Watercolor Paper, 11″x15″
- Jars of water
- Paper towel or cotton rag
- Pencil and eraser
- All of my favorite supplies here
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Reference photo (from unsplash):
Step 1: Face details
Just like the watercolor chicken, I’m starting out with the facial details. Looking back on my process, I think I was a bit too conservative in trying to preserve the white space. I probably could have added more color especially in the forehead and neck areas. But with watercolor, you always want to start light. So I did. I used a round size 000 brush for the eyes, but here, I’m using a round size 6 brush.
For the forehead, I used mostly the wet-on-wet technique. But like I mentioned, I made sure to leave lots of white space.
Step 2: Body
The soft grey chest area was also done with the wet-on-wet technique. I highly recommend watching my video above that shows me painting this in real-time to see how I did it. But I really took my time and used the lightest possible grey color. It would have been fairly easy to lift up later, but I didn’t want to take any chances.
In the above photo, I’m using a round size 1 brush for the colored feathers around the neck.
Step 3: Branch
I have my usual way of painting branches which is using a light brown layer first, and while that layer is still wet, I drop in some darker colors. Here, I’m using a round size 6 brush to do that.
Step 4: Final details
Staying with my round size 6 brush, I’m adding some smaller details like the colored parts of its wings on the sides. And on the face.
While I am very proud of this little blue jay, like I mentioned earlier, there are improvements that could have been made. Mostly in the way of adding some more saturated colors. Even the grey on the chest could be a deeper grey color.
So if you paint this with me, try to add a bit more color than I did. I’d love to see how yours turns out!
I want to see your watercolor blue jay!
If you use this tutorial, please tag me on social media @AudreyRaDesign and use the hashtag #PaintWithAudrey.
