Birds

Sunset Beach: Dawn

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011416-Sunset-Beach-AMThe beach at dawn, my favorite time to go. It’s deserted and the sky is almost always at its best! Today a band of mist masqueraded as virga, and the rising sun washed everything in pastels. Also spotted a Heerman’s Gull, unafraid as I stared at him. Did not know which gull this is until I looked it up at home, but the field marks were obvious enough to ID him later.

Painted across the spine in my sketchbook. Green Apatite, PR101, PB35, Jane’s Gray, PO71, Raw Umber. Ridiculous amount of pigments  there!

Both painted at lunchtime, from memory.

Behold the Sunbird

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102115 Sunbird_800Had a color fit this week, painted across the spread in my sketchbook. The black lines are freehand drawn with a permanent brush pen, with watercolor and a few touches of white gouache.

On Winsor and Newton 90lb hot press, about 8″ x 10″. Paints used? Oh, goodness.

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A Banner Day – Osprey En Plein Aire

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090515-HCP-OspreyThis was an unforgettable trip to the park – I was painting a fairly nondescript landscape of the pond when a man passed by, and asked if I had seen the osprey. I hadn’t, and of course asked him where it was. He pointed – maybe 20 feet away and practically over my head! All that time there was a fabulous bird of prey right out in the open, and I missed him completely!

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A Quick Killdeer

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040815-KilldeerJust found out it’s #DrawABirdDay on Twitter. Since “today” didn’t have much time left, I decided to Draw A Bird with my brush – no base sketch! About 20 minutes in my sketch book, from a Wikipedia ref.

I’ve always loved Killdeer, they have enchanted my summer nights since I was little. Didn’t find out for sure what birds they are until last month! They fly and call in the dark and you can’t see them. They never sound the same on the wetlands during the daytime.

6″ x 9″ on Fabriano Cold Press 140lbs. Bird: Raw Umber, Sicklerite, Jane’s Gray, and PO71 for the eye ring. For the background, a little Raw Sienna and premixed Hooker’s Green (PB27 and PY150).

Originally posted on WetCanvas.com.

The Third Bird: Brandt’s Cormorant

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091814 Brandts Corm CCI painted three water birds to check out the Garza Papel 140lb sample sheets. Here’s bird #3, a Brandt’s Cormorant. Source image courtesy of stalksthedawn in the WetCanvas Reference Image Library.

Garza 140lb CP, PB28 Cobalt and PBr7 Burnt Sienna. Some of the darker grays are PB29+PBr7. Painted him with thoughts of the compromised young Brandt’s that practically flopped onto my feet during a morning beach walk a few weeks ago. He was struggling to move out of the surf zone and it almost seemed like he came to us for help.

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Port of Los Angeles and Palos Verdes

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092114 POLA and PVWe had a little cool weather this week, and it blew out all the September smog. The Port is back, and so is Palos Verdes!
Not trying to be cheesy with the porpoises, there was a large pod swimming back and forth all morning. One stand-up paddleboarder was surrounded for a while, he must have been pretty stoked.
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A Repair Job – American Avocet

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082314 AAvocet MaskingI decided to paint a series of shorebirds on some of those lovely Garza Papel sample sheets. For extra fun/practice I am doing them without sketching first, just put up a ref and dive in. The Great Blue (heron) turned out nice, so I decided to do an American Avocet next. It was an adventure! I thought others might benefit from seeing a rescue operation in progress.

The short version: Better to plan ahead than try to fix things!

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The Great Blue

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The-Great-Blue-081214Testing a free sample of Garza Papel. I’m in love!! They have a standing offer for free samples, which I highly recommend if you’ve never used their paper. Now that I’ve tried it, I’m dying to purchase and make a sketchbook out of it… have to save up first though. It will be worth it.

Cobalt blue PB28 and Burnt Sienna PBr7. I mixed the samples up accidentally, this one feels like 140lb CP. It’s about 5.5″ x 7.5″.

The reference was a Great Blue Heron, although the red came on too strong and it’s looking more like a Little Blue Heron. Oh well. No base sketch, I just went right in with a wet brush, for the challenge.

Originally posted on WetCanvas.com.