Total Art Soul - for artists

I've been working on another peacock feather painting, a little different to this one so I thought I'd share with you the steps taken to arrive at the finished result.

Peacock Feather - string/acrylic/iridescent medium on wood - SOLD

This is a technique I've invented myself over the years.  First of all I start off with a piece of wood as this is easier to cut the string on (as opposed to canvas).  I apply a layer of papier maché to create some texture but also to create a barrier as the wood is quite porous.

Once dry, I paint the base with acrylic paints. Then I can start to draw out the subject in chalks and start to work out the direction of the string.  For feathers this is relatively easy because feathers are like tiny little bits of string held together in any case. After this I can start to glue the string.  For this work I'm using cotton.

I will continue working this way to match the left hand side.  After this process I will apply a product which will seal the string.  Once this is thoroughly dry, then I can start to paint in the normal way using either oils or acrylics, it doesn't matter.  This one is in acrylics to which I have also mixed an iridescent medium so that the light plays with the colours.

Here's the finished article.