Help! Darrell & other feather painters.

[iyoung]

I am working on a portrait of a child with a maribou boa (don't ask). The painting will be of watercolor with some collage. My composition (whimsical, I suppose you might call it, though I hate that) includes some feathers drifting about. I thought, no big deal, I've looked at feathers and painted feathers before, but I am finding it impossible to capture simply a maribou feather - you know, the kind you can buy in craft stores that are smooth on one end and burst into downiness on the quill end. So - I would be most grateful if someone could suggest a way to pin it down recognizably & as effortlessly (or effortlessly-looking, since that's what I aim for) as possible. It's okay if you explain what you'd do in a different medium. I can adapt your instructions to my own.

Thanks.

Oh - ps. I'd rather not have to negative paint it to describe it since I've not decided yet on the background. It may be a pattern one.

Ilene

[Gary B]

Do them after the layer beneath has had a chance to dry some. Then add the fluff with unthinned paint. Dry brush lightly. When that dries quite a bit, add subtle shadow colors to the fluff...or not.
<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/28-Mar-2001/Feathers.jpg" border=0>



------------------
"First you get you a pen and a ink."

[iyoung]

Originally posted by Gary B:
Do them after the layer beneath has had a chance to dry some...


Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are so wonderful! How could I have been thinking of trying to describe something translucent without putting something behind it first? This was precisely my problem, though I doubt I would have recognized it myself before abandoning the feather idea altogether.

I love this place.

Ilene