Hi Anna!

First I would like to thank you very much for a wonderful class that has taught me so much! You are a fantastic teacher and I think thanks to you I feel that I now 'get' watercolour painting a lot better. I've been struggling with this medium for years but feel determined to get to grips with it as I'm so in love with the colours and effects.

I hope you don't mind but I chose a different reference for this project. Found a photo by nickfish03 on Pixabay which you can view here: https://pixabay.com/photos/bird-bluejay-wildlife-nature-jay-4854855/.

I then decided to not paint a background but just a branch which the bird is sitting on. One thing I wasn't sure about was whether I should have extended the branch upwards behind the birds' tail but in the end decided not to.

Please see here some progress photos as well as the final scan of the project. I used St Petersburg White Nights watercolours with the following brushes: Escoda Versatil no 4 as well as Silver Black Velvet no 2 on Bockingford NOT 140lb paper. I also used masking fluid to protect the whitest parts of the feathers.

Thank you very much again and please let me know what I can improve.

Thank you Anna!

x Johanna