Watercolor bird journal 2018

This past year I spent a good part of my art-making time painting in a couple 5.5" X 8" Strathmore Visual Watercolor Journals I got in March. I am filling one with bird paintings and the other with paintings of places I've been. I've really enjoyed practicing with watercolors and freehand drawing in these journals. I even tried painting en plein air once (it didn't go too well, though!).

Below are all twelve watercolor bird paintings I created in one of the journals. I used reference photos taken by myself and my brother. Each month I chose one or two species that we saw that month. The outlines of the first four are done with a Zebra Sarasa gel pen (my favorite pen), but I found out it wasn't exactly waterproof, so I switched to a Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pen for the rest.
 

Sheep cartoon

I painted this 5" X 7" cartoon a few months ago using a pencil sketch I drew years ago. The sheep is one of my Katahdin ewes named Muffin. The cloud shapes in the background make it seem as though she is floating through the sky like a balloon, which is fitting because she is so pudgy and round!

Cardinal on geometric background

I just added the finishing touches to this large 30" X 15" acrylic painting today. A video of the painting process is in the works!

If you like DIY art projects like I do, you probably know that tutorials on how to create simple geometric paintings using masking tape are all over the internet. It's no wonder they're so popular - they're fun and easy to make and they look great. I used pretty much the same technique here, but I wanted to mix in a little bit of realism, so I added a bright red Northern Cardinal perched on one of the lines of the black and white design.

Happy Teddy Bear Day! 🐻

To celebrate National Teddy Bear Day I have started on a 20" X 16" acrylic painting of my teddy bear (who I named Bradley when I was a kid) holding a little teddy bear.
Here is a very bad photo of the block-in stage.

Monochrome Boston Terrier portrait

I haven't been posting here much, but that doesn't mean I haven't been creating much art! I have been working on several art projects, including some watercolor bookmarks, a few quick acrylic pieces, and even a wooden wheelbarrow planter for my garden (that's art, right?). I'm also in the process of filling two watercolor journals which I might post pictures of here one day. I'm just having fun experimenting and making art for myself.

For now I'll show one of the quick acrylic pieces - a monochrome portrait of...guess who. Yep, it's Sissy the Boston Terrier again. I'll paint a different Boston Terrier once I adopt another one!😀 This 8" X 8" painting took only about three hours to complete.

Brown Creeper painting finished!

 I completed this painting a few weeks ago and it is now waiting to be varnished.

For this piece I wanted to portray the Brown Creeper doing what it does best - creeping up a tree trunk - with an unfocused background behind the bird. But, anyone who has caught a glimpse of these fascinating little birds will know that they don't stay in one place for long which makes them difficult to photograph. I looked through many of our photos and I couldn't find one photo that showed the whole body in that perfect position, so I resorted to using a photo editor to combine three reference photos together...And I think it worked!

The client wanted more moss in the painting than the reference photos showed, so I went outside to the same area this creeper was photographed and took a few more reference photos of moss on the trees. I like the little bit of color it adds to this muted painting.

Below is the painting (right) next to the edited reference photo on my drafting table.

Brown Creeper painting in progess

I was commissioned to create this small (8" X 10") painting of a wonderful little bird called a Brown Creeper. Here are the first three stages.

Random Project of the Week - New watercolor set = new paintings

I painted these pieces last week with my new set of Sennelier La Petite Aquarelle watercolors along with my Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens. The butterfly is a Viceroy and the bird is a Ring-necked Pheasant.

I know I just bought the pocket set of Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolors, but I decided that I wanted more colors, so I went with this set of 24 half pans by Sennelier after seeing some good reviews online. I have enjoyed using them for these random projects and in my new watercolor journal...although, being a watercolor newbie, I can't say I'm very good at it yet!

Ring-necked Pheasant reference photo by Sue Wetmore used with permission. Thanks, Sue!

Portrait of Sasquatch the cat

I think it's time for me to put down the brush and call Sasquatch's portrait finished!

Below on the left is the original photo that I worked from. The client sent me a couple other photos of Sasquatch which enabled me to paint him closer to his actual colors. On the right is a close-up...lots of little brushstrokes!

Sasquatch's portrait nearly finished!

Just the ears and whiskers to go...plus some touch-ups.

Below is the tiny brush I'm using to get the fine detail and some of the colors that have gone into Sasquatch's portrait.

Sasquatch update

Another Sasquatch sighting! 😀 I got a lot done today, mostly around his face and on the blanket.

First stages of Sasquatch

New commissioned piece in progress - an 8" X 10" acrylic painting of a much-loved cat named Sasquatch. I have the block-in done and I'm ready to start adding detail. I'm really liking the dark shadows in this portrait.

Random Project of the Week - Peregrine watercolor

I used my cheap watercolor pan set for this Peregrine Falcon painting as it was meant to be a test piece to help me practice the composition before I created the "real" piece. Of course, I never got around to creating the "real" piece, so all I have to show is this study done on printer paper.

Random Project of the Week - Hummingbird watercolor

My first piece of art of 2018 - a painting of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird!
I bought myself a whole bunch of presents recently and one of them was a pocket set of Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolors. I tested them out the day they arrived and I thought they performed very nicely.