"Birds in watercolor" series

May 17, 2013

Motivated by the May 2013 challenge in the watercolor group of the site "Paint my Photo", I've been painting some small watercolors of birds. The challenge was to paint a male goldfinch in a loose way...and I tried, but I'm just a tight painter...actually, I try to be at a point mid-way between loose and tight and I like both extremes: loose almost abstract paintings and photo-realistic paintings.

Each of the paintings below is 8x10 inches on Arches 140 lb. watercolor paper. I will say that although Arches is a decent paper, it is not my favorite. I especially dislike its "wet dog" smell when it gets wet (apparently due to its use of animal-based gelatin). My favorite paper of all time is Fabriano Artistico extra-white. Some people have recently recommended Saunders Waterford and Bockingford (wood-pulp based) so I'll have to try them at some point.

From left to right, top to bottom: American goldfinch, American goldfinch, Goldfinch, American goldfinch, Kingfisher

Two pansies paintings in acrylics

April 15, 2013

I've been into painting pansies lately motivated in part by the Florals/Botanical forum April 2013 challenge in the art website wetcanvas. Here are two in very different styles, both are acrylics on 12x12 inch gallery-wrapped canvas.

The purple pansies with the lighter background (on the right) was painted in my usual style. I used saran wrap over acrylic paint in the bottom to get texture and the suggestion of leaves. I think that was successful. I just wish I had moved the pansies a little further down in the canvas.

The maroon pansies (on the left) are a different style from my usual. I experimenting by starting with a black painted canvas and then building up the leaves and petals while leaving some of the black showing through. I like how rich the colors look against the black. In the future I want to use a similar technique but with reds for landscapes or alternatively, using local complementary underpaintings.

Leave me a comment and let me know which style you like better.

Waxwing birds in acrylics

April 12, 2013

I've been in a bird-painting mode lately. Here are two recent paintings of waxwing birds done in acrylics, each on a 12x12 inch gallery-wrapped canvas, using two very different styles. One is more realistic (my usual style) and the other one is looser and more painterly. Leave me a comment and let me know which one you like best.

Waxwing and berries - acrylics on 12x12 inch gallery-wrapped canvas

Waxwing and flowers - acrylics on 12x12 inch gallery-wrapped canvas (note that picture is not the best and shows some glare on the bottom left)

White tulips on a blue vase - acrylics

April 2, 2013

This painting is from a paint-a-long in the acrylic forum of the art website wetcanvas.com. I experimented with a simpler looser style. This is very different from my usual style, but it was fun to paint nonetheless.

It was also my first painting on black-primed canvas. I followed one of the wetcanvas member's idea of letting some of the black still visible. I started with a cream-colored background (with some black showing through) for contrast with the blues but then the flowers didn't really pop and also it looked weird. So I ended up using a grey blue (cobalt blue hue + white + burnt umber) instead to make it similar to the original picture. I did scrape some of the blue back in places to show some of the cream underneath.

The left part seemed empty in the reference so I added an extra tulip. The pot turned out so well on the first try (which is so rare for me) that I let it be and decided not to add any details to it. I used phthalo blue for the pot.

Oh, how fun to keep it loose!!!

White tulips - acrylic on canvas (16x20 inches)

Tulip and dragonfly in acrylics

March 19, 2013

Haven't been painting much lately but I've managed to finish this acrylic painting of a dragonfly on a tulip. It is based on a couple of excellent pictures in the site "Paint my Photo." I used mostly Chroma Interactive acrylics on a 22x28 inch gallery-wrapped canvas. I don't paint blue and yellow flowers too often so this was a departure from the normal for me. I usually also don't paint this big so it was a challenge...still learning the medium of acrylics.

Tulip and dragonfly - acrylics on 22x28 inch gallery wrapped canvas

"Coqui, coqui" in watercolors

March 3, 2013

I just finished this 9x12 inch watercolor of a red hibiscus, which was the February 2013 challenge in the watercolor forum of the art website wetcanvas.com. The red hibiscus is similar to the flower of Puerto Rico called "flor de maga." Therefore, I took some artistic license and added a little coqui frog on the flower. The coqui frog can only be found in Puerto Rico. It makes a sound just like it's name: "Coqui, coqui. "It is a symbol of our culture. Myth has it that it will not survive anywhere else in the world. However, it is now considered a plague in Hawaii How sad because I would give anything to hear that sound again...

Thinking about maybe painting this larger in the future...

Coqui, coqui - watercolor on watercolor paper (approx. 9 x 12 inches)

Two studies in oil pastels

March 1, 2013

Below are two quick studies using oil pastels. The macaw is from a photo taken by hubby at the local zoo. It is approx. 8 x 10 inches on gessoed matboard. The sunflower is from a photo in the site "Paint My Photo." It is approx. 8 x 12 inches also on gessoed matboard. I've been trying to do some quick studies to loosen up. It's working I think.

Macaw - oil pastels on matboard (approx. 8 x 10 inches)

Sunflower - oil pastels on matboard (approx. 8 x 12 inches)

"Hummingbird" acrylic on canvas

February 28, 2013

Here is my latest acrylic painting of a hummingbird and some flowers. It is on 24 x 24 inch gallery-wrapped canvas. There's some iridescent color in the bird's body that is not obvious in the picture but it's subtle and makes it shine in real life.

This one was fun to do, especially bird and background. I used Chroma Interactive Acrylics for the background so that I could have more blending control. Speaking of which, you can get some FREE samples of this acrylic paint by going to Chroma's facebook page. They sent me (3) 20 ml sample tubes of paint: a red, a white and a black. Great for making black and white paintings to try out the paints. The advantage of this paint is that you have some degree of control over drying times. You can use it as regular acrylics, which dry VERY fast. Or you can mist it with water to extend drying times beyond those or regular acrylics. There's a special medium that allows for even slower drying times. This paint is also very creamy unlike some other acrylic paints which tend to look too plastic.

Anyway, going to be working on a still life in oils I started a while back. I looove oil painting but can't deny that acrylics have very clear advantages over oils. Although the final result for the two can look quite similar, they both have to be handled very differently. It's hard for my brain sometimes to do the switch from one to the other right away, so I may do a little watercolor in between.

Hummingbird - acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas (24 x 24 inches)

Various finished pieces

February 24, 2013

I finally got hubby to take pictures of several pieces I've finished a while ago.

First here are some of the steps to paint this beautiful pink and red orchid using water-soluble oils (12 x 12 inches on gallery-wrapped canvas):

Here are the progress photos for this French landscape using oil pastels (approx. 15 x 20 inches on matboard):

Here are some other pieces I've recently finished. From left to right, top to bottom:

Poppy study in watercolor (approx. 9 x 12 inches watercolor paper) - This was a study done for a large acrylic painting I completed a while back.
Poppy in oils on Ampersand Aquabord (6 x 6 inches) - Interesting surface to paint oils. It sucks the oil out of the paint and the paint dries VERY fast. The paint kept soaking into the support and I found myself using a lot of paint to get bright colors. The finished painting looks matte, more like a gouache than an oil.
Poppy in acrylics done on 12 x 12 inch gallery-wrapped canva
Field of Gold - oil pastel on matboard (approx. 7 x 10 inches)
Toucan - watercolor on watercolor paper (approx. 9 x 12 inches)
Echinacea flower - watercolor on watercolor paper (approx. 9 x 12 inches)

Another "Barn Owl" in watercolors

February 23, 2013

Below is my latest watercolor of a "Barn Owl." It is 9 x 12 inches on Strathmore watercolor paper 140 lb. Not the best paper since it takes no scrubbing and very little water and it starts fluffing :( Can't wait to get my order of Arches paper in the mail.

Barn Owl - watercolor on watercolor paper (9x12 inches)

"Barn owl" in watercolor and more flowers in acrylics

February 20, 2013

Here's my latest watercolor painting of a "Barn owl." I painted it as part of the Watercolor monthly challenge on the site "Paint my Photo." I added a snail so the owl doesn't go hungry. I used watercolor pencils here for some of the details and texture and also a little white gouache for the light of the eyes.

Below you will also see my two latest acrylic paintings of flowers already on my wall. They're poppies on the left and lilies on the right. Both area on a 12x12 inch gallery-wrapped canvas.

Barn owl - watercolor on watercolor paper (9x12 inches approx.)

Latest acrylic paintings of flowers - 12x12 inch gallery-wrapped canvas

Poppy paintings on my wall

February 16, 2013

So here's how my latest poppy paintings look on my wall. The one on the bottom left is my most recent. Below is "Thing 1s" creativity center (aka our dining room table). I just loooove poppies!

Even though they're on my wall they're still for sale if anyone is interested ;) The smaller ones are 12 x 12 inches while the larger one is 28 x 22 inches.