Book excerpt: The perfect reference for painters! Brighten your paintings with colorful birds and butterflies. Inside you'll find more than 40 step-by-step demonstrations to help you accurately render beautiful butterflies and a wide variety of songbirds, water birds and exotic birds including goldfinches, hummingbirds, cardinals, mallards and peacocks. You'll also learn how to embellish your paintings with individual feathers, eggs and a nest. This special guide features painting instruction and advice from 11 professional artists working in acrylics, watercolors, oils and colored pencils. Each demonstration includes a detailed materials list to make it even easier for you follow along. This invaluable combination of in-depth painting demonstrations and inspiring ideas is guaranteed to bring you success in all your work.