Finished dogwood painting

The dogwood painting is finally done. It was fun. The white flowers were a bit of a challenge with the dry brush watercolors, but in the end they came out just as I had wanted them. I used a lot of glazing layers in them to give them a soft glow. I changed the positioning of the sparrow slightly giving him a more natural perch from the original sketch.

The Barred Owl Has Landed

I just finished the Barred Owl and I am very pleased with her. They are not the most colorful of birds. Mainly brown, grey and white. But I was able use some blues here and there along with the green back ground to make the browns pop a little more. The deep brown of the eyes draw you in and hint at a world that you could lose yourself in. I think I'm going to call her Athena.

Osprey Painting

I finally got started on the osprey painting last night. As you may have noticed he doesn't look quite so angry now. Just kinda intense, maybe he had a good lunch.

I am painting him on 140lbs. Arches watercolor paper that has been stretched. That's why you see the lovely brown tape around the edges. Actually it reminds my of art school when I ran out of drawing paper and couldn't afford to buy any, I used the old brown paper grocery bags until I could buy some regular paper. They are still some of my favorite drawings.

So here we are at the under painting stage of this wee little painting (2.5x3.5 inches). I just very quickly blocked in some of the values and am ready to start laying in color.

I have also officially established that my scanner hates the color I mixed to do this in. Maybe it knows about the new camera and is jealous. Can you send flowers to a scanner?

Sketch for a new ACEO Painting

This sketch of a Prothonotary Warbler is from another trip to Sandy Ridge. He should be a finished watercolor by Tuesday. They are nesting there just off the trail.