Bird on a branch watercolor wood panel

This one is a quick craft, as it's more coloring than painting. But it was so cute I just couldn't resist!

I picked up this wooden, laser cut bird on a branch at the dollar store for $1.50. It came with hooks already attached at the top. I've done a lot of wood painting using acrylic, but I wanted to do something more natural because this reminded me of spring. Good ol' Gramma had recently given me some ancient, unused art supplies that she unearthed in her basement. Among them were some watercolor pastels, which I had never heard of before.

The box said the watercolor pastels could be used on wood. Perfect!

For the frame, I first tried rubbing the pastels directly onto the wood and going back over the color with a wet brush to bleed the paint out. It worked, but the pigmentation wasn't as dense as desired. In the end, I held the pastel in one hand, loaded the brush with water and scrubbed it against the pastel stick to develop a thick paste. I painted directly onto the wood. This resulted in thicker pigmentation with some of the wood grain still showing through.

For the mottled background, I whetted the wood thoroughly first. I used less paint and blended patches of dark blue, light blue, white and green together. I like the light, soft and hazy look of the background.

I was pleasantly surprised by how vibrant the pink and yellow are. I like the watercolor over acrylic; it's natural looking, doesn't mask the wood's character and the paint has an interesting chalky texture.

As always, I sprayed the painted wood with sealant, tied a string to the hooks and hung it in my office for a touch of spring!