Primarily Birding

"Primary Sparrow" 6x6 oil on panel

Happy Weekend all! Yesterday Carol posted a wonderful color painting challenge on DPW. I decided I would try a bird study with the three primaries and white. So for this sparrow painting, I used Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cad. Yellow Light and Permalba for my white. (This little guy was outside my kitchen window earlier this week in my thorny pyracanthus.) FYI, here's my limited primary palette which I set out roughly as a color wheel which was very helpful for mixing, as is the gray palette paper.

Oil Palette with 3 Primaries + White

I always enjoy bird watching in my own backyard, but early this morning I joined a small group of fellow bird watchers in Washington Park in Central Denver near my home in hopes of spotting something a bit more exotic. Am happy to report with the help of Candice from the Wild Bird Center of Denver, I saw my first downy woodpecker pair, a golden rumped warbler (awesome name), and what I believe is an American Wigeon (seen below). Not that I don't like mallards and Canadian geese, but was very excited to see a different water fowl by the boathouse. 

My first wigeon!

Quick reminder that you can still bid on hundreds of gorgeous paintings DPW Help Japan Auction. Many paintings (including my own "Colorful Kimono" watercolor) have very reasonable starting bids with all the proceeds going to help organizations like the Red Cross. Many, many thanks to my current high bidder for your support!