Learn to Paint a Lapwing in Watercolour, with my Step by Step Downloadable PDF Tutorial
Lapwings used to be familiar farmland and wetland birds, but sadly they are now a red-listed bird of conservation concern. Whilst at a distance the birds, particularly in flight, look black and white, up close they have a stunning iridescence across their feathers. They are also known as Peewits, which refers to their call, and this accompanies a male’s aerial tumbling display that he puts on for the females.
This is a complex project, not least of all because of the iridescent plumage. There are a number of techniques that we will work through to achieve a representation of this, the key being to keep the colours fresh. This is tricky to do, because each feather receives multiple colours in order to create the illusion of it shimmering. If you are relatively new to watercolour, I would suggest starting with a head study, and then perhaps work on a small group of feathers as a study and see how you get on. The whole project is long and challenging, and needs to be worked over a period of days.
This is an instant PDF download, you could start painting this Lapwing in a matter of minutes. You don’t even need to wait for the post to arrive! You will receive a 42-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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