I drew the lineart of the phoenix in photoshop and traced it onto A3 watercolour paper with a lightbox.

I then covered the body of the phoenix with masking fluid, painted the purples and blues of the background and sprinkled salts onto the painting as it dried, creating a rough texture. 

After removing the masking fluid I painted in the body of the phoenix and used acrylic white to cover areas where the background had bled into the body.