I worked on the Little Blue painting for about 2 hrs. Here is the first step. I wanted to be sure that I didn't muddy up the color of the bird so I painted it first with a combination of  dioxazine purple, ultramarine, thalo blue, and titanium white. Mostly Gamblin colors. I added a little chromatic black to the chest area.

I had to stop to make dinner. The next steps involve painting the mangrove leaves. I have spent another 2hrs. on the brightest ones. I used the same colors plus cadmium lemon. That's enough for today.