The Birdie Garden

Tips on How to Paint Markmakings in Art

• Scratch over things you like. Never be careful.
• If something is outlined in black, try to scratch underneath to see if you might get a different color.
• Markmaking should be about drawing your attention away from the perfect to rethink the beauty of mistakes
• Try painting a color, letting it dry, then painting over it and then making scratches to see the colors underneath.
• You can scratch with anything and you can also use rubbing alcohol to make a rubbed-out markmaking

About this Painting

• Title
  • The Birdie Garden
• Size
  • 20” x 16””
• Medium
  • acrylic
  • oil pastels
  • charcoal
• Styles
  • contemporary abstract figurative 
  • contemporary abstract expressionism 
  • abstract figurative expressionism
  • contemporary figurative markmaking
    

Details in the Painting

Detail One. If you don’t know how to paint birds, or if painting birds doesn’t match your playful way of painting elsewhere, then try painting just the essence of a bird. 

Make sure things like birds aren’t painted to look exactly like birds when nothing else looks exactly as it should.

Detail Two. These are red flowers.

Sometimes painting red next to emeralds and teals adds true color excitement.

Detail Three. Markmaking to make giraffe legs and flower stems.  Almost the same size, but somehow things just make sense.\