Three Birds. Many Lessons.

Snowy Junco 8x10 oil on cotton canvas panel

One of my goals in early Jan was to start the year off by participating in Leslie Saeta’s painting challenge. But due to travel and other conflicts this month it was not to be. A big kudos though to all of you who did participate—I greatly missed the camaraderie and look forward to the next one. 

My return to the easel was challenging--For most of the month I had “polar vortex” bronchitis that just wouldn’t budge. The reality of being a “dedicated” artist is that you may sometimes paint in less than ideal conditions. When this happens, or you have limited time, I recommend keeping everything as simple as possible. 

Cheery Chickadee 8x8 oil on Raymar linen panel

Bird no. 1: Cheerful Chickadee

For me this meant a small (8x8 square), limited palette, and enjoyable subject matter. This cheerful chickadee is not bad for a quick study but I can tell I’m not 100%. (That’s a nice way of saying I was coughing so violently that the brush was hard to hold on to at times.) That being said I believe every painting provides us with valuable self-instruction.

Rosy Robin 8x10 oil on Ampersand Gesso panel

Bird no 2: High Key Robin

Moving on the next day for my robin painting, I chose a slightly larger (8x10 Ampersand gesso board) and somewhat more complicated high key value structure. You just don’t have the bold value contrast that can hold a painting together. So again with my robin painting a perfectly respectable study but I think I can improve on the composition, shape interest, edgework, etc.

Bird no. 3: Snowy Junco

In today's post you can see the junco has (in my opinion) more interesting shapes and paint quality ans well as better color harmony. It’s not a perfect bird painting by any means but I think it’s going in the right direction.  Best of all, I feel much better and am not starting February cold--no pun intended. Happy winter painting everyone!

P.S. I'm usually painting during foot ball season but but this Sunday as a proud Denverite I have to say Go Broncos!

Let's Just Wing It...

Washington Park Raven 8x8 oil on linen panel
Click to Bid--SOLD--Thank you!

The worse my drawings were, the more beautiful did the originals appear.
John James Audubon

Painting lots of birds lately…I’ve read that focusing on birds, dreaming of birds, etc. may symbolize hope, intuition and freedom from boundaries and constraints.  I love the idea that specifically as artists birds could represent our personal quest for creative freedom and our boundless imaginations.  Birds and creativity seem to go hand in hand. We even say we are “spreading our wings” when we grow artistically or “leaving the nest” when we move on to new endeavors.

"High Key" Aspen Robin Study 8x8 oil on linen panel

"Negative Space" Robin Study 8x8 oil on linen panel

I've also been working on smaller paintings as a "first step" to a larger work so looking for a successful 8x8 that will translate well into a 24x24 or even larger. Trying to figure out how to make a 3 foot tall robin look natural and interesting...

Speaking of birds, I particularly enjoy casual birding around my older Denver city neighborhood. Unfortunately, I probably won’t spot too many exotic birds nearby (how I’d love to paint a colorful resplendent quetzal!) but I still enjoy painting robins, sparrows, crows, mallards, etc.

Want to see more bird inspired art and design? Check out my “Feathered Friends” board on Pinterest. Or just type “birds” (or your favorite bird) into the Pinterest home page search. Also here's a short "how to article" for painting small feathers in acrylic. Questions about my art or Denver based art classes please feel free to email in the studio. Happy painting (and bird watching)!

Primavera Robin

Primavera Robin-8x8-oil on panel

Happy Sunday everyone! My quest to capture the colors of spring continues. This is the same robin I posted a few days ago after he flew up and landed on a budding spring branch by an evergreen tree. Initially, most of my photos were of the swaying branch or sky and no robin, so I was thrilled to finally capture him at rest.

Here, I really wanted to capture the sunlit warmth of the robin and the reddish buds/berries against the coolness of the blue green evergreen. I also had a great time playing with the brush edges in this because of all the different textures--branches, feathers, spiky evergreen foliage, etc.

Speaking of birds, the Daily Paintworks painting challenge this week is chickens, which as many of you know are very popular art subject. And I know art buyers seem have a fondness for farm fouls as well. I'm often asked at an art festival if I have chicken or rooster paintings. But, as a city artist, I don't have a lot of chicken photos handy, so I may use the photo Carol posted. We'll have to wait and see...


Summer Art Market News
As I've mentioned before I'll be taking many of my posted paintings to the Summer Art Market on June 11-12, 2011, so if you are in Denver be sure to stop by and say hi. FYI, in the spirit of daily deals, closer to the Art Market I'll post a very special Colorful Connection Blog Readers discount coupon for everyone so be looking for that in a future post.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

Rockin Robin

Rockin Robin--6x6 oil on panel

Happy Thursday everyone! As you may know if you read my blog, birds are one of my favorite subjects to paint. But I also like to work from my own photo references so this makes painting birds a bit tricky since I'm not known for my photography skills.

Thankfully, the other evening when I was walking in the neighbor hood the spring sun was washing everything in that warm "magic hour" light that movie makers love so much. I had my little digital camera and was able to capture (not very easily I might add) of few robins for my paintings this week. I also read robins are one of the last birds you'll hear singing as the sun sets so I thought that tied in well with my title.

I also wanted to focus working with the warm and cool temperatures in my color mixtures of this painting, which reminded me of another one of my favorite oil painting books that I don't think I've mentioned before and that's the Yin Yang of Painting by Zhang--it's a bit expensive for used paperback but it's a beautiful book by a color (and value) master. You can see more examples on Zhang's website.  I love his discussion of working with opposites in your painting such as dark/light, cool/warm, blurred/sharp, etc.

Wanted to wish a fond bon voyage to my many traveling friends and students this month--I look forward to seeing you back again soon! For more information about my classes please click on the class tab above or email me. Thanks for stopping by!