Grouting Second Color over Base

Hold your mouse over each image for the explanation, moving from left to right.

01. After the warm gray grout dried, I taped off the areas that would get a second, charcoal gray grout.

02. Notice here how tight the line is: That's where I wanted a very sharp delineation between the cardinal and the background.

03. The tape around the leaves was not as 'strict' because the ocotillo could be somewhat blended with the background.

04. Here, I left a 1/4" of space from the upper feathers so I could BLEND the gray grout into the background, producing a more natural look on the cardinal's head.

05. Once taping was completed, I applied the thin coat of charcoal gray grout.

06. I scraped and then rubbed most of the charcoal gray grout off. With my fingers, I blended the dark gray into the warmer gray near the head feathers.

07. The final result - so far - is the darker bird and the ocotillo branch against the lighter sky. I am considering doing a light blue grout on the sky.