Hummingbird study in watercolor

Hummingbirds are my wife's favorite bird and with a feeder right outside our window, we see them all of the  time.  Hummingbirds symbol enjoyment of life as well as being the only bird that can fly backwards. They are facinating creatures. This particular painting was inspired by a photo posted on the G+ community Group Watercolor Painting.

You rarely see the wings of a hummingbird in focus since they move so rapidly, but, as in this photo, if you have a fast enough shutter speed, it can be done. I made the colors in the flower  reflect in the hummingbird's feathers to create a continuity between them, but for some reason I really struggled with keeping a smooth background color.

The poisoned apple

This painting was based on a photo posted by the G+ community Group Watercolor Painting. I took some artistic license with it since the apple was originally green, and had LOTS of water drops on it. Since this was the first time attempting water drops, I decided to limit it to just a few, and I just prefer red apples. I painted the apple with a gradient wash to make an obvious light source, and once I had a beautiful red apple,

it was time to "poison" it with my attempt at water drops. Painting these drops feels so awkward with the darkest part near the light source and the lighter part away from it, but after searching images online, I think I have a handle on it. I rarely use it, but the highlight was created with a dab of Chinese White, right out of the tube. I just need to work on thewater drops being more smooth and round.  It's not really a Halloween themed painting, but if I call it a"poisoned apple", it just might be!

Study of hydrangea in watercolor

Here is a painting based on a photo posted by the Group Watercolor Painting community on G+ Of a hydrangea. The hydrangea has a ball with hundreds of flowers, so I tried experimenting with detailed areas and less detailed areas...

Then I thought I would do the same with the leaves. I don't think it works with the detailed leaf next to the less detailed part of the flower, so next time I would plan my placement out more ahead of time. I tend to paint first and plan later.

Seagull in watercolor

This painting was inspired by a photo posted by a fellow painter in the Group Watercolor PaintingGroup Watercolor Painting community. Most of the seagull was painted with Payne's grey, which I have been using a lot for shadows. The wing on the top is foreshortened in my reference photo, but I can't help but see it as cut off in my painting.

Study of orange slices

This painting was inspired from a photo posted by a fellow painter in the Group Watercolor Painting community. The challenging part of this is that although they are oranges, they are quite yellow, but my brain keeps saying orange.

focusing on tulips

This was an interesting challenge that a fellow artist, Isabella Kramer, posed to the Google+ community, Group Watercolor Painting, The concept behind the group is that we all paint in different styles, and to demonstrate this, we all paint the same picture in our own way. So this particular challenge is a tulip patch that was photographed with a very small depth of field, resulting in most of the blooms being out of focus.
I kept a spray bottle nearby to try to keep some edges "out of focus". I'm not sure if it's done yet but I had to step back and let it rest for a while.  What do you think?

Here is the original image.

April Gerten, by Isabella Kramer

Portrait of a pug

I recently went to a demonstration by Steve Walters and one of his tips to keep energy, passion, and spirit in a painting is to put bold colors down first as a kind of abstract under painting.  I thought I would give it a try with a photo of a pug that a fellow artist, Michael Salmon, shared. I think that the colors help keep the painting whimsical and it helped break up some of the black.

Lady in pool, watercolor

 I've always been fascinated by the way light and water react with each other. A reflection in the water is one thing, but when it is just the surface of the water bouncing the light around...that's a challenge I  had never attempted...before now. Thanks to fellow artist, Kelly Murphy, for the photo reference.
The first pic is after my first couple of washes, trying to save my whites ( I really need to invest in some masking fluid), and trying to get a gradation to represent the steps in the pool, while using the right side as an experimental area.  The next step is to add in the color of the lady, the shadow around the hat, and a few more tweaks with the water. I thought I might stop here, but then I decided to lift some of the color to create some highlights in the water. The larger areas I used a Mr. Clean sponge, but in order to lift the finer lines, I used a stiff wet brush. And lastly, to crop off the right side.
I'm ready to go for a swim. Anyone got a pool?

Mealtime for a monarch

This painting was inspired from a photo posted by a fellow painter in the Group Watercolor Painting community. It is not something I would normally choose to paint, but in order to grow, I have to be willing to step out of my comfort zone. The layout of the photo was very similar to the one I had created in my sketch of Skull Moth Flower, but I never challenged myself to paint it.
I loved working on the butterfly, as it had lots of geometric shapes and lines. The flower on the other hand was where I felt I was struggling. I could probably go in and work the flower some more, but the butterfly is where the focus should fall, and so I call it finished.

Study of a bearded iris, watercolor

I have not done very many watercolors of flowers...it seems to be a popular subject though, and spring is the perfect opportunity to get some practice in!
From a photo provided by fellow artist, Ute Sturm, from Google+ community Group Watercolor Painting, here is my attempt at a bearded iris. I challenged myself with not tracing the photo reference I had, but I did do a quick pencil sketch. I layed down yellow on the top of the flowers. Then I wet the bottom of the flower and dropped in some maroon perylene. It quickly took over the bottom "beard" petals as well as half of the yellow I had already laid down.  It was a great effect but I needed some of the yellow back. After it dried, I had to go back and add in more yellow.
The last couple of paintings I have done have had a dark background, and this background was white. I had to put in a little color on the background.
Taking a step back, I can see my lower flower is "floating", and I forgot to add a stem for it. Oops.

Lily pond in watercolor

This is the second challenge that I have taken on that was presented by the Google+ community Group Watercolor Painting. The concept behind the group is that we all paint in different styles, and to demonstrate this, we all paint the same picture in our own way.

I'm not sure if there is much difference between a lily pond and a lotus pond, and I took a similar approach to painting both this piece and the Lotus Pond that I painted 6 months ago.  Both were from a photo, then traced onto watercolor paper. The lily pads really make or break the perspective of both pieces. This one had so many lily pads, it got a little muddled. Some turned out really well, while others, not so much. (My eye keeps focusing on the manatee shaped leaf on the bottom right) I can't  even imagine Monet's garden with hundreds of lily pads.

Pheasant in watercolor

I seem to do well with a challenge someone gives me, or a competition. I never seem to win but it gets me motivated. So here is a challenge that some fellow watercolorists in the Google+ community Group Watercolor Painting gave me: a photo of a pheasant. 

It took me a while to figure out where to start, but I decided to trace the outline of the bird right off the computer with pencil first, then traced it from there onto watercolor paper.  I decided not to worry about the background shown in the photo, so I threw down some background color around the outline. Not sure if my choices were too close to the color of the pheasant...

After that dried, I put in the main colors of the pheasant onto the body, while leaving the neck, beak, feet, tail feathers and some of the back white. I tried to blend the colors together so it transitions smoothly from one color to the next. Then I added in some black detail. It seemed like it needed some "grounding" so I added a shadow underneath. I went back in and reworked a few areas, like the wing which does not seem to be placed quite right.