KOOKABURRA

KOOKABURRA

We're diving into the world of Australia's famous feathered comedian—the kookaburra! Known for their laughter-like call, kookaburras are as fun to paint as they are to listen to. This painting captures a kookaburra perched on a tree branch, looking to the left against a soft, light sky. Let’s make this feathery friend come to life!

Feel free to adapt these instructions as needed during your painting session. Change up the colours, add extra details, anything you’d like! Have fun exploring different techniques and creating your masterpiece! 🎨

Set up

After following our set up guide here, these are the paint colours you’ll need: white, brown, blue, and black.

Step 1: Background

Now, I normally say there are no rules in art, but for this step, we need a light coloured sky adding plenty of water. This is for a few reasons: we want to be able to easily paint over our background later (because painting over dark colours is much harder), we want our beautiful bird to stand out, and we use the water to get quick drying time, and a smooth, delicate effect—think early morning sky vibes :)

Step 1B: Edges

Because we want this painting to look polished from all sides, paint all the way around the edges of your canvas! This small touch really brings a finished, gallery-ready feel.

Step 2: Mapping

Time to map out the branch and our bird! Paint a branch going across your canvas, then break the kookaburra into basic shapes.

Draw an oval for the body, a circle on top for the head, a narrow oval for the wing, and a pointed shape for the beak.

Fun fact: Artists often simplify their subjects like this—it’s how even the greats like Da Vinci and Michelangelo sketched their masterpieces!

Step 3: Body

Let’s give our kookaburra some fluffy feathers using thick brushstrokes of white paint. These broad strokes will help us capture the soft, textured look of its feathers. Don’t worry about being too precise here—the kookier, the better!

Step 4: Wings

With thick paint, add brown and blue to the wing area to capture that kookaburra flair. These birds have wonderfully patterned wings, so have fun with it! Use the same broad strokes for a textured, feathery look.

Step 5: Beak and Face

Make a cool toned brown by adding a dash of blue to the warm brown. Use this for the top of the beak and light brown for the bottom, paint the beak’s distinct shape.

For the face, use a warm brown to give it character.

Step 6: Eye

For the eye, dip the back of your brush in black and stamp it on for a perfectly round kookaburra eye. Then, add a little white dot for that lifelike sparkle!

Step 7: Branch

Remember, there’s no such thing as a straight line in nature! Let your branch twist and turn naturally with bumps, curves, and texture. This little imperfection is what will make it look real.

Step 8: Feet

Paint two small, cute kookaburra feet gripping the branch. Don’t overthink it—just a couple of lines or shapes will do the trick!

Step 9: Sign your masterpiece

The final touch—sign your work! Every artist deserves to claim their fabulous creation, and that includes you!

Thank you for joining us today at Josie's Paint and Sip!

Don't forget to share your masterpiece on social media and tag us @JosiesPaintAndSip.

We look forward to seeing you again for more fun-filled painting sessions :)

Glamorously yours,

Josie 🎨