Tag: painting

Great Blue Heron: Acrylic study

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Day four of the six-day art challenge with the theme “blue,” which I narrowed down to “blue-feathered birds,” was a difficult one for me. Not because of the subject nor the medium – I had picked out a great blue heron to do and had my acrylic paints in the perfect colors already – but my back decided to act up in a most uncomfortable way.

A good sketch to start painting

I was actually quite excited and enthusiastic about this painting in the early stages. First, the sketch went smoothly. The paint went on evenly for the sky, then I started painting the sea with three or four shades of blue to give the appearance of waves rolling in from the horizon. I painted the handrail after that, and was even more pleased with how well it resembled weathered wood.

Great Blue Heron, acrylic sketch n 11 x 14 inch primed paper
Great Blue Heron, 11 x 14 inch acrylic on paper study, prints only

Painting the great blue heron

Painting the heron proved to be not QUITE as easy as I anticipated. I mixed shades of the blue-gray, dabbled a bit of brown in some for the neck, and still was not satisfied as my back began to really hurt. I didn’t want to drop out again, since I had dropped out of the “green” challenge a couple weeks ago when my second piece needed more work than I had done in one day. Then, I had the idea to lighten the sky and see if that made the colors and shades on the heron work.

An easy solution – repaint the sky

It did! I felt like I dodged a bullet there. I started to do a little more on the heron, then noticed the white of the paper showing around the bird’s feet. Ugh – I hadn’t painted close enough on the wooden railing. At this point, I said , “Good enough!” and scanned it for the challenge then went to lay down for two hours.

As I was laying down, I decided I would NOT finish this piece. Instead, I will be doing it again, in oil paint on a traditional stretched canvas. Since the stretched canvases don’t scan as well as flat canvases, panels, and paper do, there will be no prints of the painting to come, nor any of the fun little accessories with the painting printed on them. So, the oil original will truly be an original, and the only prints will be of this acrylic study on paper, available through my Pixels store. (After some thought, I am now offering up the original acrylic sketch to purchase through Daily PaintWorks.)

I’ll try to post the fifth in the blue-feathered bird series tomorrow, depending on weather – satellite internet gets fussy during thunderstorms.

Blue and Gold Macaw painting

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I have finished the series of six blue-feathered bird paintings, although I did fall behind on blogging them in a timely manner. I hope to get caught up before I start my next series. Here is the third blue-feathered bird, the blue and gold macaw parrot, also done in acrylic paint.

Blue and Gold Macaw, 11 x 14 inch acrylic painting
Blue and Gold Macaw, 14 by 11 inch acrylic painting on paper, $140 USD (available)

He looks like quite a cheerful and playful parrot, as he cocks his head to one side while looking at the camera (for the reference photo). He is probably someone’s beloved pet, and the main change I made from the reference photograph was to take out the concrete and chain-link fence in the background and just use a muted orange for a background color. I think I caught the macaw’s expression, and spent quite a bit of time on the eye, face, and patch of green feathers on top of the head.

Out of all the parrots, I like macaws best as subjects for drawings and paintings. They have the most brilliant colors in some very saturated hues, and the color combinations are so pretty. Often, they seem to have character and charisma. I have already done the hyacinth macaw, and there is one more macaw to come (already painted).

For those who want a print of this painting, those are available at my Pixels store. If you prefer to wear your art, or have it as usable accessories, check out the RedBubble store. If you want the original you can purchase through Daily PaintWorks, and if out of my area I can ship.

Until tomorrow!

Eastern Bluebird acrylic painting

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The second of the six-day blue art challenge, which I narrowed down to blue-feathered birds painted in acrylic, is this male Eastern Bluebird. He sits atop a simple wooden birdhouse, and the yellow-green background complements his rusty red-orange breast as the midmorning sun warms his blue back. The color scheme in this painting may be simple, but it is effective in that the blue and orange are opposite on the color wheel, while green harmonizes with both.

Eastern Bluebird, acrylic painting on paper of a male bluebird sitting atop a wood birdhouse
Eastern Bluebird, 12 x 9 inch acrylic on paper, original available for $100 USD

Thoughts on the acrylic paint

I am still getting accustomed to acrylic paint’s characteristics, especially how quickly it dries – not only compared to oils, but it seems to me that it dries even faster than watercolor. There is also more of a color shift as it dries compared to my watercolor paints. For this series, I am using a line of craft paints my husband has used for more than a decade, so I can ask him about any issues I have. (The brand is by Plaid, maker of Mod Podge, and goes under the names Apple Barrel and Folk Art and is available at Wal-Mart here in the US.) I feel like I am doing a bit better with it, which is enough encouragement to continue with this new-to-me medium.

Thoughts on the drawing and painting process

Looking at this painting after some time has passed, I could probably have done a better job on my initial sketch, particularly where the bird’s feet rest on the birdhouse. I also think I made the head a little too small to fit the rest of the bluebird’s body, but it is a subtle thing that I didn’t notice until the painting was completely dry. I do love the natural color scheme of this bird species – especially the more brightly-colored males – and hope to find another good photo reference to do another in the future.

Purchase links for Eastern Bluebird

Prints are at my Pixels store, and assorted accessories at RedBubble for those who want. The original acrylic painting on primed paper is now listed at my gallery at Daily Paintworks, and is still available for $100 USD plus shipping.

Meanwhile, I have started painting blue-feathered bird number three …

Sunrise at the Beach watercolor painting

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After six flamingo paintings, I guess I got restless and on a whim I painted this lovely little beachscape, which is my term for a landscape that features a beach (rather obvious). It also has elements of a seascape and a cloudscape, but the sand and some shore grass tip it firmly into the beachscape classification in my opinion. It’s the sunrise part that makes the clouds so interesting to me.

The original is on paper that was sold as ten inches by ten inches, but a careful measure shows one dimension to be about an eighth of an inch short. This was the first time I had noticed this deficiency on the block (glued pad of pre-stretched watercolor paper that buckles much less than taping a sheet down myself) even though I have already done a previous painting (will post that soon!). While I can fix that on the scan, the original is not quite square. I am not at all versed in the intricacies of framing art, so I don’t know if that will have an effect.

Sunrise at the Beach watercolor landscape
Sunrise at the Beach, 10 x 10 inch watercolor, original available $100 USD plus shipping

Overall, I think this is my best landscape so far. Then again, this is only my fourth landscape I’ve done this year, so not a whole lot of competition there! I am asking $100 for the original, and do ship. Prints are available at my Pixels page, and apparel and accessories are at my RedBubble page for those who like to wear their art.

I do still have a pile of paintings and pastel works to post, so stay tuned!

Winter Snowman watercolor painting

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We are now in the second half of the year, which means it is time for those of us in the gift-making sector to turn our focus to the year-end winter holidays like Christmas.  I will certainly be doing Florida-themed paintings very soon, but I thought I should spotlight the watercolor paintings I did at the end of 2020. First up is this whimsical piece I just call Winter Snowman.

I had a very enjoyable time painting this, with the merry red scarf and hat, the black buttons, and the blue and purple shadows, with the swirling green in the background to make the reds pop.  Just pulling this painting out again to scan and upload has brightened my mood today!  I often use the word “whimsical” to describe this one.  While it has a different look compared to most of my other artwork, I still love it. Sometimes, it is just fun to experiment with different styles to keep myself from feeling too “stuck in a rut.”

Links to purchase original artwork and prints

The original is listed at Daily Paintworks, available for purchase if you have a eleven by fourteen inch space on your wall or desk.  For smaller or larger (up to 30 by 40 inches!) prints, visit my Pixels store.  If you want apparel or accessories, there is both my RedBubble subdomain and also a few at the Pixels site alongside the prints. (links open in new tab/window) I think it would make a great set of Christmas cards – both Pixels and RedBubble offer those. In fact, you could team this piece up with my two watercolor paintings of red and blue Christmas ornaments that are also perfect for greeting cards. I recommend ordering this early in the year at avoid shipping delays.

Winter Snowman watercolor painting
Winter Snowman, 11×14 inches, watercolor painting on paper, original available $140 USD