Pastel Partridge - Tole Painting

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Paints - Delta Ceramcoat
Black 2506
White 0202
Santa Fe Rose 2496
Adobe Red 2046
Cinnamon 2495
Taupe 2470
Lichen Grey 2118
Dusty Plum 2456
Dusty Purple
Napa 2443
Violet Ice 2557
Purple Dusk 2522
Charcoal 2436
Trail 2435
Territorial Beige 2425
Burnt Umber 2025
Light Timberline Green 2531
Timberline Green 2633
Sea Grass 2549
Avocado 2006

Brushes
#16, #10, #4 and #2 flat brushes
#6 or #8 flat or filbert
#6 and #8 round
#1 liner
3/4" or larger flat glaze brush
#4 or larger stippler

Supplies
Wood Piece (8 x 10)
Sandpaper, 220 grit or finer
Matte-finish varnish (I used J. W. Etc.,'s Right Step)
Tack cloth

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Instructions

Right-click (or click and hold for Mac users) on the line drawing at the bottom of this page and save it to your hard drive. Open the image in any browser or graphics program and print. This should print out the correct size for the above project. If using a different sized wood piece, either resize the image to desirable dimension in your graphics program and then print, or use the reduce/enlarge function on a copy machine. Repeat the same procedure for the image of the finished photo album. Click here to print these instructions.

Sand the wood piece with the grain with 100 grit sandpaper. Remove dust with a tack cloth. Apply wood sealer if desired (although this step isn't necessary). Sand again and remove dust with the tack cloth.

Basecoat using your glaze brush with a mix of White + Lichen Grey in a ratio of 3:1. Lightly stipple the pattern area of your wood piece first with Avocado and then with Sea Grass. Trace all of your pattern except for the details in the bird's body (these details will be added after the bird is basecoated).

Berries
Using a #10 flat brush, basecoat the berries with a mixture of White + Taupe in a ratio of 2:1. Now sideload your brush with just Taupe and shade the outside perimeter of the berries all the way around. Use two or three thin layers to get a soft, blended effect. Sideload again with Napa and shade in the underside of each berry as in the photo. Again, use more than one thin layer. Using a #6 flat or filbert, do a very light float of black to accentuate the shading, then add reflective highlight using White on a #1 liner brush.

Leaves
Using an appropriate sized round brush, basecoat the #1 leaves with Seagrass. Shade with a float of Light Timberline Green on a small flat brush.

Basecoat the #2 leaves with Light Timberline Green. Shade with a float of Timberline Green on a small flat brush.

Basecoat the #3 leaves and #10 branches with Trail. Using a small flat brush, shade with Territorial Beige, then again with Burnt Umber. Highlight using a light float of White. The stems are done with Timberline Green on a #1 liner.

Bird
Basecoat the bird's body using a mixture of Violet Ice, Taupe and Purple Dusk in a ratio of 2:2:1. Shade around the outside of the bird's body in layers using a #16 flat, first using a float of Purple Dusk, then a thin layer of Purple Dusk with just a touch of Charcoal added. Draw in the bird's wing and use this mix to shade under the wing. Highlight the wing using a soft float of Violet Ice.

Transfer the remainder of the bird's body details.

Basecoat all #9 areas on the line drawing with Trail. Using the appropriate sized flat brushes, shade undersides of all #9 areas by floating in layers of Territorial Beige and then Burnt Umber. Sideload a small flat brush with white and highlight the uppermost portions of the branches (10), eye, beak, and all beads. Add white reflective highlight to the lower beads and eye with a #1 liner. Sideload a small flat brush with Black and reinforce the shading at the bottom of the eye as well as the beak. Using thinned Black on a liner brush, place the divider in the beak.

Basecoat the #4 tailfeathers as well as all other areas marked #4 on the line drawing with a 1:1 mix of Santa Fe Rose + White. Shade with Santa Fe Rose and then a thin float of Cinnamon.

Basecoat the #5 tailfeathers as well as all other areas marked #5 with a 2:1 mix of Santa Fe Rose + White. Shade with Santa Fe Rose and then a thin float of Cinnamon. Float in a few white highlights in the #5 areas down the front of the bird's wing.

Basecoat the #6 tailfeathers as well as all other areas marked #6 with a 2:1 mix of Purple Dusk + Violet Ice. Shade with Purple Dusk. Use a 3:1 mix of Purple Dusk + Charcoal to accentuate the shading.

Basecoat the #8 areas with a 3:1 mix of White + Lichen Grey. Shade first with Trail and then with Territorial Beige.

Spray with two coats of matte-finish spray varnish, allowing ample drying time between coats.