Watercolor, 2012
12" x 16"
I have been working too many hours and haven't picked up the brushes in a very long time. I had time this weekend, Jana and I went to the cabin, she sewed and I painted. Another sparrow. The idea here was leaving the darks dark and trying to gain color and contrast on the stripes of the bird and getting the feet right. I also used a larger block of paper, 140lb cold press, Arches. I made the drawing on a smaller sketch pad and then used my large watercolor paper block, 12" x 16", making this my largest song bird painting.
Again, I used only three colors, yellow ochre, burnt umber, ultra-marine blue... and that is it. Oh, except I added a cadmium yellow highlight on the eye brow and on the beak. I used my wash technique on the feathers and then later added a dry brush (burnt umber) highlight. I still feel like the strokes are not assertive enough. I do like the feather pattern on the far wing, I think that is the whole point of the painting. As always, my goal with those wing feathers is a glowing or gem like quality. I like the hard border paint built up from dropping clear water into my washes.
The next step is doing what I have been putting off, frames. I really want to build a nice frame for this painting and to use a subtle double mat.
12" x 16"
I have been working too many hours and haven't picked up the brushes in a very long time. I had time this weekend, Jana and I went to the cabin, she sewed and I painted. Another sparrow. The idea here was leaving the darks dark and trying to gain color and contrast on the stripes of the bird and getting the feet right. I also used a larger block of paper, 140lb cold press, Arches. I made the drawing on a smaller sketch pad and then used my large watercolor paper block, 12" x 16", making this my largest song bird painting.Again, I used only three colors, yellow ochre, burnt umber, ultra-marine blue... and that is it. Oh, except I added a cadmium yellow highlight on the eye brow and on the beak. I used my wash technique on the feathers and then later added a dry brush (burnt umber) highlight. I still feel like the strokes are not assertive enough. I do like the feather pattern on the far wing, I think that is the whole point of the painting. As always, my goal with those wing feathers is a glowing or gem like quality. I like the hard border paint built up from dropping clear water into my washes.
The next step is doing what I have been putting off, frames. I really want to build a nice frame for this painting and to use a subtle double mat.
