Feather settling on water with one ring around itPale gray, blue, white. Paint the feather, then one thin oval ripple under it.
Ivy twining up the shaft, a leaf at every turnDark green, lime. Pale craft feather. Paint one thin line winding along the shaft and a small leaf at each turn.
Checkerboard feather in two bluesNavy, sky blue, white. Rule a slanted grid inside the outline and fill every other square with the darker blue.
Feather running from a yellow tip to a crimson baseYellow, orange, crimson. Start at the tip with yellow and feed the next color in before it dries.
Feather settling on water with one ring around itPale gray, blue, white. Paint the feather, then one thin oval ripple under it.
Flamingo-pink feather curling at the tipCoral, pink, white. Paint a curved shaft line and pull the wash away from it on both sides.
Gray downy feather with soft edgesBlue gray, pale blue. Paint onto damp paper so every edge blurs.
Guinea fowl feather, gray-black with white spotsGray, black, white. Wash the feather dark, let it dry and dot the spots in rows with thick white.
Jay wing feather with a blue patch and fine black barsBright blue, black, gray, white. Wash the blue patch first and add the thin bars when it is dry.
Pair of crossed feathers bound with stringBurnt sienna, teal, tan. Paint the back feather first, let it dry and cross the second one over it.
Peacock train feather in wet greens, dark eye dropped inEmerald, bronze green, blue, purple black. Let the greens run together and drop the dark center in last.
Rainbow feather, six colors pulled out from the shaftSix rainbow colors. Pull each stroke outward from the shaft and let neighbors touch.
Ring of feathers, every tip turned clockwiseSage, dusty blue, rust, ocher. Pencil a ring and paint each feather along it in turn.
Single feather with color dropped along the shaftIndigo, turquoise. Wet the feather shape, touch color to the shaft and let it spread toward the edges.
Three falling feathers in rose, ocher and tealRose, ocher, teal. Paint each as one wet shape and tilt them at three angles.
Dry brush and fine line 12
Black feather on white with barbs pulled by a linerBlack, gray. Draw the shaft, then flick each barb outward with a liner brush.
Blue jay tail feather barred black, sky blue and whiteSky blue, black, white. Paint the blue, then rule narrow black bars and a white tip.
Fan of rust tail feathers with white tipsRust, black, white. Start every shaft from one point and tip each feather with white.
Feather curved like the letter CTeal, black. Curve the shaft first and pull the barbs from the outside of the curve only.
Feather with a bent shaft, kinked in the middleGray, charcoal, cream. Break the shaft line at an angle and dry-brush the barbs out from both halves.
Feather with a fluffy base and a sleek tipGray, white, charcoal. Pull the down out in loose wisps with a dry fan brush and keep the tip smooth.
Goose quill pen standing in a bottle of blue inkWhite, gray, black, blue. Paint the bottle flat and the feather in fine strokes that follow the barbs.
Long plume with barbs thinning to wispsCream, gray. Lift the brush as each barb goes out so it ends in a hair.
Soft brown feather with pale bars left by a dry brushBrown, buff, cream. Drag a nearly dry brush outward from the shaft and skip a band every so often.
Tiny feathers scattered in navy, mustard and coralNavy, mustard, coral. Paint each one in three strokes: a shaft and two curved sides.
White feather on black paper in thin liner strokesWhite, pale gray, black paper. Flick thin white barbs with a liner and leave the black showing between them.
Worn feather with two or three splits along one edgeBrown, cream. Leave two or three narrow wedges of bare paper along one edge.
Saved whites and negative painting 12
Dove-gray feather with a saved white tipBlue gray, white paper. Wash the feather from the base and stop short, so the tip stays bare paper.
Feather left white in a circle of sunset colorsYellow, orange, rose. Wash a circle around the feather and keep its edge crisp.
Layered feathers, each layer painted aroundGray blue in three strengths. Paint around the top feather, let it dry, then around the next in a darker mix.
Pale feather on a mossy forest floorOlive, brown, dark green. Dab the moss and leaves around a bare feather shape.
Plain feather shape with stars around itNavy, white. Wash the night sky around the feather and dot stars everywhere but inside it.
Row of white feathers against a graded blueCobalt, pale blue. Paint around five feather shapes, dark at the top of the page and pale at the bottom.
Shaft saved as a white line with a wax crayonWhite crayon, teal, violet. Draw the shaft and a few barbs in crayon and wash color over them.
Taped feather shape peeled out of a sky washSky blue, pink, masking tape. Cut the shape from tape, wash over it and peel when dry.
Three crossed feathers, bare, with brown painted betweenBurnt umber. Fill the spaces between and behind the feathers and nothing else.
Unpainted feather with only its shadow brushed inBlue gray. Leave the feather bare and paint only its shadow, shifted to one side.
White feather left bare inside a dark washIndigo. Draw the feather in pencil and paint only the paper around it.
White feather with a storm cloud painted around itPayne's gray, blue gray. Paint the cloud around the feather shape and soften its far edge with clean water.
Patterned and imagined 12
Checkerboard feather in two bluesNavy, sky blue, white. Rule a slanted grid inside the outline and fill every other square with the darker blue.
Dotted feather with dots shrinking toward the tipTurquoise, white, gold. Dot with a cotton swab at the base and a brush tip at the end.
Feather built from tiny leaves pressed along the shaftOlive, lime, brown. Press a small round brush once per leaf along both sides of the shaft.
Feather cut into stained-glass panes of ruby and cobaltRuby, emerald, cobalt, black. Divide the feather with black lines and fill each pane with one clear color.
Feather half lifelike, half trianglesGray, teal, coral. Paint one side in soft barbs and cut the other into flat triangles.
Feather split into five slanting stripes of flat colorCoral, mustard, teal, navy, cream. Divide the feather with slanting pencil lines and fill each band.
Feather striped in black, white and mustard chevronsBlack, white, mustard. Paint V stripes pointing toward the tip, turning color every stripe.
Feather that breaks into flying birds at the tipBlack, gray. Let the last barbs come apart into small V shapes that drift upward.
Feather with a row of pines along the shaftDark green, pale gray, white. Use the shaft as the ground line and stand the trees on it.
Feather with a starry night sky inside its outlineIndigo, teal, white. Blend indigo into teal inside the outline and dot the stars with thick white once it is dry.
Peacock eye in metallicsCopper, blue, purple black, green. Paint a dark heart shape, ring it with blue, then with copper.
Sea wave curling inside a feather shapeTeal, navy, white. Run the wave along the shaft and let the foam fill the tip.
Painted on a craft feather 12
Feather tip brushed in goldGold. Any craft feather. Brush the top third from the shaft outward and leave the rest bare.
Ivy twining up the shaft, a leaf at every turnDark green, lime. Pale craft feather. Paint one thin line winding along the shaft and a small leaf at each turn.
Ladybugs climbing the shaft in a lineRed, black. Pale craft feather. Dot five red ovals up the shaft with a brush handle, then add heads and spots.
Lake and reeds painted across a broad craft featherBlue, olive, brown. Broad craft feather. Wash the lake across the middle and pull reeds up from the base.
Line of flying geese across a broad craft featherBlack, pale blue. Broad craft feather. Wash the feather pale and paint the geese as small dark V shapes.
Monarch wing pattern across an orange craft featherBlack, white. Orange craft feather. Paint black veins outward from the shaft and a black edge dotted with white.
One flower with the shaft as its stemRed, yellow, green. White craft feather. Paint the bloom at the tip and two leaves beside the shaft.
One red heart at the widest part of a white featherRed. White craft feather. Paint the two halves of the heart outward from the shaft, stroking with the barbs.
Ridge and moon on a wide featherNavy, white, black. Dark craft feather. Paint the moon near the tip and the ridge across the base.
Sunset bands across a broad white featherYellow, orange, pink. Craft feather laid on card. Brush each band from the shaft outward, with the barbs.
Tiny banded feather painted along a broad oneBrown, cream. Broad pale craft feather. Paint a small banded feather lying along the vane.
Two owl eyes near the tip of a brown craft featherYellow, black, white. Brown craft feather. Paint two yellow discs side by side and a black dot in each.
How it works
Feather painting ideas come in two kinds: a painting of a feather, or paint on a feather itself. Four groups here are the first, sorted by technique, and the fifth is painted on a craft-shop feather.
Read the full guide
Painting a feather on paper
Start with the shaft, one curved line. In loose watercolor, wet the feather shape and touch color to the shaft so it spreads: Single feather with color dropped along the shaft. With a liner brush, flick each barb outward: Black feather on white with barbs pulled by a liner.
Real birds to copy
A Eurasian jay's wing has a bright blue patch, finely black-barred. A peacock's train feather ends in an eye-spot: a purplish-black center, then blue, then a copper rim. A guinea fowl's body feathers are gray-black speckled with white.
The easy ones sit under More filters, Level.
Questions and answers
How do you paint a feather in watercolor?
Wet the feather shape with clean water, touch color to the shaft and let it spread toward the edges. Feed a second color in before the first dries, as in Feather running from a yellow tip to a crimson base.
What is an easy feather to paint first?
Gray downy feather with soft edges, painted onto damp paper so every edge blurs, or Black feather on white with barbs pulled by a liner. 21 of the 60 carry the easy mark.
Can you paint on a real feather?
Yes. The fifth group has 12 ideas for a craft-shop feather laid on card, such as Sunset bands across a broad white feather and Feather tip brushed in gold.
What is negative painting?
Painting the space around a thing and leaving the thing itself bare. White feather left bare inside a dark wash is only the indigo around a penciled feather.