Modeling paste and acrylic paint on canvas.

I started this project in April 2020 after I had just quit a position that I had worked so hard to get and after I had also been let go from my other job due to Covid. Newly unemployed, I needed to do something to make myself happy while not spending too much money. I decided to paint a portrait of my cockatiel. I wanted to give this painting some texture that you could actually feel, so I used some modeling paste that I still had from another painting I did 2 years ago as well as some plastic palette knives that I stole from my school’s art room before I graduated. After I painted the background color my favorite color, pink, I gridded the photo I took of Mischief and and started laying down a mixture of modeling paste and acrylic paint. I used the palette knives to sculpt the direction of the modeling paste to follow her plumage. Then I went back to add small details with just acrylic paint such as her eyes and the tree stump she is perched on. I think I captured Mischief’s curiosity perfectly.