Embroidered Collage

I wanted a nice bright green as the first layer of my background.  It felt like a risk, but it seemed like a worthwhile foundation.  As I painted it in I also mixed in some browns for variation.

Then I collaged in the branch pieces.  They don't take up the full space because this is an 11"x14" canvas and the finished piece will be 8"x10".  I'll remove the canvas from the stretcher bars and restretch it.

I didn't wait for the paint to dry fully so using the gel as an adhesive pulled up a bit of the paint in various places.  This was unexpected, but I liked the effect, and the value variation, so I enhanced it on purpose.  Then I wanted to start obscuring the strength of Marissa's design, so painted over the branch portions in translucent yellow with touches of orange using Golden fluid acrylics.

Next, I need to figure out what else I want to do the rest of the background and select fabric or paper for the bird.  I have some ideas on how I want to add stitching to this portion and I know the bird will be relatively heavily embellished.  I'm not sure yet how far I can take that without losing the appealing simplicity of the shape.

See the beginning of this piece at First Layouts for Bird on a Branch.