Demo Monday! Bird Nest in Oil

'Simple Treasures'     5x7     oil      ©Karen Margulis
purchase in my Etsy shop  $100

I love oils!  It is the texture I can create with the brush and palette knife that really excites me. A bird nest is a great subject to build up that texture. I am new to oil painting, I've been dabbling for the past few months, but to keep me from being intimidated I remind myself of the process I use for pastels.  If I get stuck I ask myself "What would I do if this were a pastel?" and it helps put me back on track.  There are differences of course but there quite a few things that are similar.

1. (from top left)  I am using a 5x7 panel on my Easy-L easel.  I am also using a limited palette of white, black, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, cad yellow medium. I begin the painting by drawing in the basic shapes with thin paint.
2. Next I block in my darks. I am using paint thinned with Gamsol. I used a mixture of red and blue. I then added some dark orange/rust.
3. Next I block in the eggs. Oh yes I did add a color on my palette for the eggs....I added turquoise.
4. Now it is a matter of building up the nest colors. I get lighter and thicker with the paint as I build the layers. I also put in the background. I chose green because it seemed like a good nature color! and because I had some green in the nesting materials. 
5. Oops it looks like my pictures are out of order!  This picture shows the build up of the nest before the background was added. To give you an idea this step probably took me 15 minutes of painting.
6. Finished!  I used a palette knife for the finishing touches.

This nest was fun to paint and I can't wait to do more when I get back from Chicago! No time to paint this week!