Day 31: White collared kingfisher
This kingfisher is another one that I saw frequently growing up in Singapore. It seemed like whenever I went outside, I could find one. This, like most of the birds I’ve done, reminds me strongly of my childhood.
This is the most detailed bird I’ve done so far, I think. I did multiple layers of the wings, which I didn’t do before, and to do this I cut out tiny triangles of paper at the bottom of each layer of feathers.
I made the bird separately to the background – first cutting out the shape of the bird on a separate piece of paper, then adding the collage layers onto that, so that I could move the whole bird freely around the page.
It took a while, but I’m happy with the result. I think my skills of making birds is improving a little bit, as I think this is the first time I actually liked a bird I made!
Day 32: White bellied sea eagle
Another bird that takes me straight back to childhood – the white bellied sea eagle. These are huge eagles that hang around Singapore, generally around the coast but because Singapore’s so small, you can see them inland too. They’re so majestic and amazing to watch.
For this collage, I made all the pieces separately and glued them straight onto the background. I think I did this because this bird consisted of 3 main pieces – each wing, and the body of the bird. So it didn’t feel necessary to stick them onto a separate piece of paper first.
I’m quite happy with how this turned out too, considering that I have previously failed to do a flying bird (I had to stop because I wasn’t sure how to do it at all and I was running out of time).
Day 33: Island cabin life
This is quite far from the reference photo, which I took in Munich some time in March. I didn’t think I would be able to pull off the island with trees in the background too, so I decided to get rid of the background…
I’ve therefore ended up with something that looks like a cabin on an island. I wanted to also practice getting some more detail in the trees.
This one turned out okay I think, but perhaps I would change some things like the add more detail to the cabin – and overall, I just want some more practice with doing collage trees.
Not too bad I think, even though it definitely doesn’t look like a scene from Munich haha.
Day 34: Pink flowers with bee
This took an unexpectedly long time… I was having a very slow day with this one, and I ended up finishing it at 11:30 at night, which is not normal for me.
Overall, I changed the reference photo a little bit – in the background of the photo there’s a fence, and instead of doing a metal fence I decided to try a wooden lattice…
I think this collage turned out well, and definitely one I would have spread out over a couple of days if I wasn’t pushing myself to finish this challenge.
What do you think about this one?
Day 35: Path through Fields
This is a path through the fields nearby where I live, and I think it turned out somewhat better than my last path through nature.
There’s a bit more detail to this one, as I stuck heaps of leaf shapes down individually on the lefthand side… But still, I think my detailed landscapes of natural settings needs some work.
I only have two more weeks to go! I can’t believe I’m still going, but I’m now thinking that week nine will be a bit different… a bit more experimental, hopefully with some mixed media…!
