BLUE-WINGED MOUNTAIN TANAGER: The painting on the left is an exaggerated interpretation of this bird, so don’t look for perfect accuracy. 🙂 Of note, the same materials were used for both of these paintings. However, the Tanager was started with watercolor pencils. And…yikes; I did not like the overall look nor how difficult the pencils were to blend once wet. Anyway, I ended up using watercolor paints over the pencils. The pencils were Coloré watercolor pencils, and believe I will to give them another chance in a later project; you know, to practice with them and attempt to get the hang of how they work. And finally…the picture below (left) was my original finished painting but it seemed lacking so I added the tree branches (as seen in the painting at the top).
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER: The first painting is an interpretation of a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. It’s on 140lb cold press watercolor paper, in Holbein watercolors, and I used Silver Black Velvet brushes. I’m not listing the colors because I used what was already on my palette and it had quite a few mixes and variations on it.
Disclaimer: I am still learning this craft and often refer to amazing artists who offer tutorials on YouTube. This image (the gnatcatcher) is from Maria Raczynska (check out her works).
I’ve only been painting with watercolors since December 2017 and while I’ve found it challenging, I hope that I’ve made noticeable improvements. Duh, right?! I’ll keep painting regardless because it is relaxing and a creative outlet.
What about you, do you paint or create art in any medium? Tell me what you’re working on, if you’re new to it, or that it’s a hobby (like mine). The point is, I’d love to hear from you too.
