A co-worker of mine, Micaela, recently did some sketches of bird heads for a project that she didn’t end up using. I loved the sketches and asked her if I could use them for a project. She was happy to let me and said I could even share her design with you all so you could paint your own.

Download the bird sketch pattern

She originally sketched the designs to go on 12″x12″ canvases, but I loved the thought of doing them in miniature on 3″x3″ canvases instead. So, when I printed the pattern sheet, I shrunk it down so that each little bird head would fit onto one of my tiny canvases. I used black transfer paper to trace the design onto the canvas. Transfer paper is a craft room must for me.

Next, came the fun part… painting! Let it be known that I am not a painter, and I have had zero training. But, I had a lot of fun with this and painted the little guys just how I wanted to. I wish I could give you step-by-step instructions for doing these, but I don’t really have any. I took my color palette from the real birds and blended and highlighted as my minimal abilities enabled me.

I might turn them into magnets for my refrigerator, but right now I like them perched on my mantle!