Birds in Watercolor

Bird Workshop Photo courtesy of J. Cruickshank©2012

I recently finished giving a workshop on painting birds in watercolor. One of my students did a compilation of photos from the students art and my painting. She graciously said I could place it on my blog. I think everyone had a good time and learned a lot. I am in the lower left demonstrating and part of my bird watercolor is on the right side with two black-capped chickadees showing.

In the workshop, we worked on ways to depict the birds feathers whether they were soft and fuzzy or the stiff flight feathers. I also demonstrated how to paint the birds eyes to give them life.

Most of the backgrounds were soft focus because of the close-up look at the birds.

My painting was of 3 black-capped chickadees that I placed together from different photographs. I used a soft focus background and glowing light behind the birds. See Below.  This painting will be framed and matted and for sale during my featured month at Arati Artists Gallery, Colorado Springs, during the month of November.

Black-Capped Chickadees LWatry©2012

The Artist's Magazine's 29th Annual Art Competition

I found out last month that my painting "Victoria Giant Waterlilies" was juried into The Artist's Magazine's 29th Annual Art Competition. My painting was 1 of 60 chosen in the landscape/Interior category out of 1,679. I received an Honorable Mention and my name and state will be published in the December issue. I don't think the painting image will be printed, but you can see it below. I believe in December The Artist Magazine will have an online gallery of all of the finalists available for viewing. You can click this link to go there: The Artist's Magazine.