Pheasants

Since my last post I couldn't help playing around a little with the grasses. There is still more to do but I am ready to move on to the birds.

For me, painting pheasants is a balancing act. There needs to be enough detail so they read as pheasants, but I am not interested in doing a scientific illustration depicting each feather. Often a perfect rendering can leave birds feeling static and this is a painting designed with movement.
Once the feathers are painted, I may even soften their edges by dragging the wet tips into the background.

The red for their heads is a challenge. Cadmium red, cadmium orange, rose madder, and cadmium yellow mixtures are a start.
For the iridescence of their necks I am using several colors which rarely make it to my palette (cobalt violet, cobalt turquoise blue, chromium oxide green) along with ultramarine blue and cerulean blue  To fully accomplish the effect I may need to glaze on some brilliant color once this layer is dry.