This is a combination of multiple techniques; wonder how it was done? You can find out next month if you’ve signed up for email updates; I’ll reveal details in September!

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #71:

Drawing is a way of thinking for me, and Prismacolor Art Stix are my favorite tools for working out ideas — they glide so easily over the tracing paper! I typically begin with a rough version in a single color, then make adjustments in contrasting ones until I get something that seems to work. You can see the process in this early sketch for one of the panels for Keeping Secrets:

Sometimes I’ll make adjustments in white gouache and/or ink, as in this chickadee sketch for Tales of the Understory, Part III:

After this stage, I’m ready to start cutting out the design with a craft knife. I use blue tape to temporarily adhere the tracing paper to the watercolor paper and cut through both layers at once. The tracing paper drawing often looks like this when I’m done:

Wonder how my watercolor sculptures begin? First I do a lot of drawing on tracing paper to plan out each layer. Here are my favorite tools for loose sketches:

Do you recognize them? Hint — they’re not pastels. Find out more about my process next month!

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #70:

Here’s a list of all the revisions that give Keeping Secrets such a different look:

1. Most of the foliage layer is now gone; it’s also in a new position in-between the 2 layers of tree trunks.
2. I added some darker oranges to the background layer.
3. I used glazes to darken the 2 ground layers.
4. To create a softer, more dappled light effect, I lightened parts of the tree trunks and branches.
5. I also lightened the rock and changed the texture.

Keeping Secrets has a new look!

Here’s the original version:

Can you spot the differences? Learn all about the changes in July!

ANSWER TO MYSTERY TECHNIQUE #69:

I started with a drawing of the nuthatch creeping down a branch and used clear contact paper to save white paper in the shape of the nuthatch’s silhouette; next I painted some general textures. After that layer dried, I peeled off the contact paper and cut out the shapes of the branches and the bird. To establish the position of key features, I did a little stippling with my .005 Micron pen. After wetting the paper, I came in with slightly drier paint, using a wet-in-wet technique to imitate the texture of feathers. After it dried, I added more stippling for details.