Niko

This is a painting of my wife's British lab, she always has an intense look when waiting for treats. The big challenge is painting an all black dog! Once I looked close at the pictures I took of her, tying to figure out how I could do this, I realized that I wasn't just painting the color but the reflection and shine on her coat. Now I look at everything different.

Niko 6x8 watercolor

Bluejay Splashing

Bluejay Splashing; Just finished another watercolor painting of a Bluejay splashing. Lots of fun. Water goes everywhere and trying to capture the sense of motion is a challenge.

Bluejay Splashing 7x9 watercolor

Posting one of my sculptures. This one on my metal large birds I call the Odd-stritch. All found scrap metal and some time with the welder  she stands in my wife's garden keeping an eye on things. It stands about 5' (1.3m). 

Keeping an an eye on things

Standing on one leg after taking a step in the right direction 

I came across a photo of great horned owl with an expression that struck a chord in me. I decided to capture it. What is see and what my wife sees in the expression is very different. What do you see?

Great Horned Owl 11 x 14

I recently saw a video clip of sparrows in a bird bath on Instagram, I decided to play around with the concept of showing the Titmouse splashing in the water. The result is interesting and I may decide to do a series around this concept.

Splashing Titmouse 11 x 9

I have started to frame some of my paintings with a simple cedar frame that I make from local white cedar trees. I am not putting the painting under glass but I am treating the paper with a UV protective coating. It think that the framing enhances the final result.

Morning Dove 12 x 4

Best painting so far. The Kestrel is a great challenge to paint and tried to be very loose in my approach. Still working on getting a better photography setup. The left side is not as dark as in the photo. I cut the paint ion off my new stretcher board and mounted it to a cedar frame as a floating base with 2 sided tape leaving the raw paper edge exposed.

Kestrel 10 x 14

This is the first painting that I did with stretched paper. I made a stretching board on 3/4 nick maple plywood where I cut slots all the way around the board. Them used a screen installation spline roller to tuck in the paper. I then used robber spline stretched and pressed  into the slot to hold the paper while it dried. I like the way it paints.

This a painting of a Tufted Titmouse that I painted on a watercolor paper panel that I made. I saw YouTube video on stretching paper and thought it looked good and having scraps in the wood box I gave it a shot. It actually turned out well. I painted this piece and even painted the papered edge that wrapped around the frame. Just need to spray with a UV protector and varnish. 

Painted a sleeping readtail hawk a and really enjoyed the paint process and am pleased with the results on the back. I added a light background and I achieved the look I was going for.

Red tail Hawk. 10 x 14

October 16. Painting this weekend resulted in a couple of interesting pieces.  I painted the rest of the sleeping mourning Dove and decided I like the negative space and positioning of the bird in the corner as a peaceful composition.

Mourning Dove 10 x 14

October 8th,

Working on a variety of projects and my current watercolour painting project is a mourning dove. I did paint a few other practice pages this week but nothing I can post. This is an in progress pic of my painting. I will post pics of the table I am working on later in the week.

October 3 - The end of the 30 in 30 painting challenge and I want to paint more than ever.

Barn Owl, this is the painting that I was working on over the weekend. I have always liked owls and had this photo in my archives that always struck me a a great pose. I took on the challenge of painting the piece. I wanted to capture the eyes from that photo, and I got close. I purchased some new paper for painting, the Arches 140lb cold pressed watercolor pad, and i can say that it is very nice paper.

Barn Owl 10 x 14

I will be posting twice a week, showing what I am working and hopefully complete each week. For now my focus is on watercolor paintings, but will I also post other creative projects as I complete them.

October 1 The day after the 30 in 30

Today we were asked to post a collage of the paintings of completed in the 30 in 30. I got sidetracked from painting today by finishing the roof repairs to the sun room, I hope to use it until it gets to cold to paint in. I am working on an Owl and will post soon.

30 in 30

A review of the 30 in 30 challenge.

I painted all the pieces in a watercolor book each one occupying a separate block. Not a bad collection for my fit ever venture into watercolor. This is the setup I worked with to do my 30 in 30.

The pages from the book ...

Day 30 of the 30 in 30 painting challenge. The last day and today I and i ended up deviating from my normal structure of painting full birds. I accidentally had to jump into a new style, one that I have admired for other artists. I have admired the paintings of Karl Martens, and you need to check out his work if you like this piece, his will blow you away.

I painted the White Throated Sparrow and focused on the head first. Once I finished I was starting to work on the back when I accidentally brushed the paper with a fully loaded brush in a place I wasn't going to paint. From there I just went for the flowing looks you see here. Glad it worked out so well.

This has been  wondrous journey into a completely new form of art for me. It did take some discipline to paint regularly and publish a piece every day. Tomorrow I will post all my paintings from my painting pad together.

White Throated Sparrow 4x6

Day 29, 30 in 30 painting challenge. Almost at the end, and I final did a predominately black bird that is starting to look good. the Dark Eyed Junco is a winter visitor and I just couldn't give up on painting black birds.This has been great fun and a tremendous new challenge. I don't look at anything the same way, now I keep thinking, how would I paint that. Looking over the past posts i see i will have to get better at photographing my work, the image on the blog are not as nice as the actual paintings.

Dark Eyed Junco 4 x 6

Day 28 of the 30 in 30 painting challenge. Can't believe it's almost over. I will continue to paint and post here as I do more works. Today was a painting of a Mourning Dove sitting on a post. To fit in my 4 x 6 space I had to paint smaller. This was a brand new challenge.

Mourning Dove 4x6

Day 27, 30 in 30 painting challenge. Today I painted an Evening Grosbeak, high contrasts with the yellows and some hard black elements made this a challenge. Altogether it is not a bad piece and I even like the branch. The beak is a challenge here, as it is almost an ivory white and a large feature on the bird.

Evening Grosbeak 4 x 6

Day 26 of the 30 in 30. The subject for today was the Northern Mockingbird. I worked with much lighter washes and tried it keep the colors flowing. I paid more attention to the eye as this bird has brown eyes not black like most other song birds.

Norther Mockingbird  4 x 6

Day 25 of 30 in 30 painting challenge. Today I tried another black brid with mixed results. The Canada Warbler is an elusive bird biding in dense bushes, it appears to be elusive to paint properly also. The perspective on the painting failed some due to the difficulties in rendering the blak wings properly.

Canada Warbler 4x6

Day 24 of 30 in 30; I drifted away from song birds to include a Sandpiper. A shore and meadow bird that I have seen along the lake. I didn't do feet, just legs but I wanted to show it wading just for the fun of it. Still having a ball and considering doing a few larger pieces for the end of the challenge.

Sandpiper 4 x 6

Day 23, 30 in 30 Painting Challenge. Today I painted an Indigo Bunting, not a common bird around my deck, more of an occasional visitor. This all blue bird is rather striking when seen amongst the

trees.

Indigo Bunting 4 x 6

Day 22, 30 in 30 Painting Challenge. Yesterday I started adding legs and it went so well I will continue. The subject today was the American Robin. The bird that often signals to me that spring is close. The read of the orange red of breast can vary greatly from bird to bird. On this painting what I painted and what it dried to were very different color values. That is something that I am learn as i progress. It's not the same for all colors and even intensity of a color.

American Robin 4 x 6

Day 21, 30 in 30. Today was a big day in my progression as a water-colorist (I think that's right) a am adding legs and feet to my birds. Legs and feet on birds are most often the third thing people notice on a bird, first is eyes, second is beak then the feet. The wings and tail come next. I know its odd but check me on this as you view my work.

Today my subject was the Gray Catbird, this is a bird that I noticed first when I pulled into the driveway of my home. He was sitting on the rail fence. I love the subtle grays the dark patch on the top of the head and the red rump.

Gray Catbird 4 x 6

Day 20. 30 in 30. It's now 2/3 through the challenge an I have enjoyed the journey.  Today it was painting the female cardinal, I like the muted tones and shading and since it is so different from the male I feel it's like a different bird. The head turn and tilt was a real challenge that worked up to a point, something I will continue to play with. Starting with the next painting I plan to add legs and feet. Check out the other works on 30 in 30 challenge

Female Northern Cardinal. 4 x 6

Day 19. 30 in 30 painting challenge. Today was the jewel of our area, the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. The challenge today was my use of a limited pallet and portraying the shimmer of the green and red feathers.

Ruby Throated Hummingbird 4 x 6

Day 18 of the 30 in 30 art challenge. Today I chose the Pheobe as the bird of the day. I have started to think like that, what is the bird of the day so I get all the common birds I see from my deck into the painting cycle. Still painting tight and can't seem to shake the habit, trying a bird today that is more graduated in color and does not have as much stark contrast. I like to watch the Pheobe picking off bugs and files just at the grass tops and then sitting the a tree flicking its tail.

Eastern Pheobe 4 x 6

Day 17 - 30 in 30 painting challenge. Today I tried tacking a Baltimore Oriole, a bird with a lot of black mainly on its back. The challenge with black showing property tones and hues was once again a challenge. The brighter sections worked out quite well. Still having great fun.

Baltimore Oriole 4 x 6

Day 16 30 in 30. Today was a good day, the cedar waxwing has such a soft and muted coloring lends to making the paint flow and move. The pops of bright red and yellow are just added fun to the process.

Cedar Waxwing 4x6

Day 15 30 in 30, I was looking through my reference photos and kept seeing this Barn Swallow looking back at me. It is a challenge to paint the face looking directly at me so that was focus. Unfortunately the beak area is a little over worked and not quite as defined as I like. The flow of the colors on the wing and the feathering of the breast area onto the back actually worked out.

Barn Swallow 4x6

Day 14 30 in 30, After yesterdays challenge with the Red Wing black bird I decide to do a bird with a little more detail and more basic colors. The House Finch is an interesting little bird that is common in the fall in winter. The focus for me was on the face and eye in this painting. Now the muted tones of the under feathers of the breast are my new challenge.

House Finch 4x6

Day 13, 30 in 30 painting challenge. Wow today's painting was interesting.
My subject was the Red-wing Blackbird. I knew this was going to be a challenge since the bird is all black and showing subtle tones of deep black would be challenging. Well it was more than I was expecting in terms of a challenge, but it was an interesting learning experience. It looked so much better wet where the upper back had a sheen that gave it depth. Once this 30 in 30 challenge is over I will definitely be back to tackle the black birds. I think that more of a layering approach and building up the black may be my next approach.

Red-Wing Blackbird 4x6

Day 12, This is the piece I have enjoyed most  so far. I got the paint to flow and by letting the piece dry then painting another layer I got more of the look I wanted. I love the blue and orange contrast.

Eastern Bluebird 4x6

Day 11 30 in 30 painting challenge. I must say that without the 30 in 30 I may have skipped a day to two. My motivation is to complete all 30.  I picked the Downy woodpecker for today. It's a challenge with the white spots. Still trying to work on the frisket. I wish it was tinted.

Downy Woodpecker 4x6

Day 10 of 30 in 30. Hard to believe that I am a third of the way through. Now I'm looking at some supplies to keep going. I think that I may want to try a different paper. I don't know how the Strathmore 400 series paper is compared to others. Once I get through this pad I will try a higher priced brand. Today it was a goldfinch and working with the yellow and trying to get some shading on the breast. It worked some bit it is still a little off, the paint wast to push to the edges of the puddle.

Goldfinch 4x6

Day 9, the subject for today was the Hermit Thrush. It is a nice little bird that has a lot of mottled browns with an olive tinge.  Not so successful this time. It is a little washed out and while I did get some flow, most moved to the outer edge. The eye worked out well and that is always the first point do interest.  This is still fun.

 Hermit Thrush 4x6

Day 8 of 30 in 30 in 30 painting challenge, today I was working on a chipping sparrow. Today was a challenge of muddy colors. the problem was on the cape but I think it worked out by re-wetting and blotting the area. I need to be careful with layering colors when the base is wet. 

Chipping Sparrow 4x6

Day 7 of 30 in 30 painting challenge. I ended up with a real problem on this one. I accidentally stuck my finger in the paint on my work and smudged it all over the tail area. I tried to lift the color by re-wetting but ended up actually loosening up the paper, when i tried to blot it rolled up some. I was able to smooth it out some but lesson learned. The challenge of the stark white breast and getting subtle shading was interesting.

White Breasted Nuthatch 4x6

Day 6 of the 30 in 30 painting challenge. My wife challenged me to get a little more "watercolory" if that is a word. I was trying to use the natural flow of the paint to depict color changes in the bird. Of course she was right, I like the look, now if I can just figure out how I got there. I left the painting after I applied some of the color and got distracted. I came back to see the the color flowed more than when I had left it. I think I need to let the paint move and not "work" it. Still learning!

Red Breasted Nuthatch 4x6

Day 5 of the 30 in 30 art challenge. Today it was time to try paint a little tighter. The winter Wren is a perky little bird and the detailing in the feather coloration is amazing. Painting tighter, i ended up with a much darker painting than I would prefer, another learning experience. This is the first time I used frisket and that is going to be a challenge. Knowing where to apply it and when to remove it and continue painting will be interesting.

Here is today's painting.

Winter Wren 4x6