Learn to Paint a Spotted Pardalote in Watercolour, with my Step by Step Downloadable PDF Tutorial

Can you believe that this delightful little bird is sometimes known as the ‘Headache Bird’, as a consequence of it repeatedly calling ‘sleep-may-be’ throughout the breeding season! Resident in eastern and southern Australia, it is a relatively common bird where eucalyptus trees are in abundance, where they nest in a burrow in the ground, which they line with bark strips.

The main challenge with this tutorial is to work on a small scale. I kept my reference photo zoomed to the same size as my painting, which was just 10 cm / 4” wide. At this scale you can only see a certain amount of detail, so deciding what to paint and what to omit is key. You can of course super-size the image, and work on a much larger scale, in which case you will be able to add a lot more detail. Painting on such a small scale is tricky, so I’ve given the tutorial an intermediate difficulty rating.

This is an instant PDF download, you could start painting this Koala in a matter of minutes. You don’t even need to wait for the post to arrive! You will receive a 29-page PDF document. Set out in the same way as the tutorials I write for magazines. However, you get lots more large photos of the different stages.

Downloadable lessons enable you to work at your own speed, you can dip in and out of the content, you can spend time studying the fine details and practise the various techniques as often as you like.

Have fun with this lesson, take your time and let me know how you get on. Try printing off the last few pages which have the larger versions of the step-by-step photos for additional help.

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