Winter Cardinals

These beautiful little cardinals snuggle up on a snowy branch in this frosty winter landscape.

To create this painting, we first taped a large piece of watercolor paper to our painting board. Then we painted the paper with clear water and added liquid watercolors to create a wash of wintry colors.



While our backgrounds dried, we practiced drawing tree branches and the cardinals. Then we painted in the branches in tempera and added bark and texture with oil pastels.



Next we painted in our little cardinals. We didn't draw them first; we just painted the basic teardrop shape above the branch and the tail below, then filled them in with red tempera. Then we added the facial features, the feet, and the tail feathers.


We dried the paint thoroughly, then we added thick white tempera paint along the tops of the branches to create a layer of fluffy snow. Finally, we dotted the sky with falling snowflakes!

These girls know this painting would have taken a lot longer without our trusty blow driers! 


I just love these cheerful little paintings!