Attempt at a feather painting

LOL it's kinda.... Ahaha
Here it is!

It's cute , I like it!

I want to try feather paintings but I don't think I have any of the right feathers. Is there anything you have to do to them before you paint on them?

I don't know!
I just decided to paint on a feather LOL
You should probably ask Cinnyluver, she is the real expert and her paintings look real!

*EDIT* and i used a flight feather from one of my male cockatiels.

Maybe I'll ask my sister for one of Benji's (that's her cockatiel). I think budgie feathers would be too small.

IMO Cockatiel feathers are to small! it took forever to make that :p if she has any of the larger ones(flights at the end of the wing) that they have dropped, those are easier. and you may need to cut a paint brush(i have already cut ones because i used to paint on cage bars) most people don't already have small ones..

Great attempt! Looks better than what I woulda done---LOL!

Wow! Thats really nice!

I think goose, heron, ect. feathers (of large water birds) make good feather canvases. They are large and fat! It should be a good starter. Here's a pic of a heron feather I found compared to your average pencil.



Sorry for the blurry image, but it was just to show you the size.

I used a cockatiel feather, but man that feather is huge!

Very huge!

though it would make a nice canvas for sure!! i do like painting the bird onto the feather of which it came from though

That is very cute!

Thanks! my neighbor has a pigeon so i am going to see if i can get her to give me one of his molted feathers

That's awesome! Great job! To answer your question about preparing feathers to paint, I just "preen" them with my fingers to lock all the barbs together and make them look as nice as possible. At first you need to brush really softly or you can pull the feather apart (which is extremely hard to put back together once it's broken) and may let a simple layer dry before adding more layers and details to make it stronger.

I figured out the "brush softly" real quick!
i have seen amazon feathers, they are so thick! not as hard to unattach the barbs as it is with a cockatiel feather, they are so fragile!

Also note that in America you can't just go around picking up feathers - some are illegal to have.

Yep. peacock feathers, migratory bird feathers(including canadian geese). did you know you can get a 500$ fine for having a canadian goose egg without having permission to breed geese?

Tielferretfinch wrote:Yep. peacock feathers, migratory bird feathers(including canadian geese). did you know you can get a 500$ fine for having a canadian goose egg without having permission to breed geese?

That's crazy!

But also, peacock feathers are legal. I use them all the time ^^

oops i got the peacock feathers mixed up, i work at a zoo where they have peacocks and the people aren't allowed to take them.

Tielferretfinch wrote:oops i got the peacock feathers mixed up, i work at a zoo where they have peacocks and the people aren't allowed to take them.

Haha, no problem. But luck you! I'd love to work at a zoo!

Haha, maybe I should paint that feather! It's golden in the sunlight.

Yep, some bird feathers are illegal to have. That's why I taught myself the feathers of all the common species, since I like to collect feathers.

oh you should! i would paint a macaw on it, or an amazon. or a clear body'd budgie!

Yep! Some sorta budgie.....or tiel!

I say Mango or Shakes they are so cute!