| I always endeavour to make a handcrafted gift for my wife Fiona for Christmas and this year I opted for a flamingo, a bird which she is fond of. Discovering an old and rather naive version of one set against the sea, I was taken by the idea of putting our local landmark Herne Bay pier head on the horizon. The engraving flamingo had a rather woeful-looking neck, so I gave it a more graceful curve, which also a better fit to my tall format and I was not giving much attention to reality, so this bird has an exaggerated neck. .  |
| My inspiration, an old coloured engraving, showing my grid and adapted neck to fit a taller format. |
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| The oldest draughting trick there is: drawing a grid to translate the image onto a larger format. |
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| As long as your grid’s reliable, you can draw any squares in (note mine are numbered like a Battleships game) so you can re-visit undrawn areas... |
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| Ensuring that the width of the neck is graceful and ‘S’-like. |
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| Tracing the 2nd side before rubbing down |
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| Positioning the trace down. To make this easier, the trace matches the size of the plank of wood |
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| The trace taped on to transfer down |
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| The darker line shows where the trace is complete. Sometimes a contrasty colour, like a red biro works well for this. |
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| I liked the original caption, so traced that down too |
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| A bottle of local craft beer helps burn the midnight candle! |
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| Base colour for the pink in light acrylic |
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| Blending in a rose madder pink |
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| Base colour complete (note top of plank is yet to be trimmed off square, but acts as a useful trial area for colours |
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| Loosely dashing in lighter ling leg segments |
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| Loose is my style, so adding the sea in sketchy curls |
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| Coming together |
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| Prior to the ‘staining’, the colours looked a tad brash... |
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| Adding an engraving-style scratch pen line in black ‘tightens up’ the image |
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Looking good with the caption hand-drawn in ink, prior to putting the coffee on! |
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| Yes, really using my favourite black espresso coffee to add a sepia-coloured patina |
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| A petit gris brush lays down the coffee |
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| Head close-up showing the still-wet coffee lying on top of the original whitewash base |
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| Local icon ‘Herne Bay pier head’ |
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| After staining, I bevelled the edges with a plane (sides) and surform (ends) |
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| The final piece. |
