Since then, I've tried painting it more than once -- the first effort was not good at all because I tried to paint all the lily pads with no success whatsoever. I tossed that attempt ages ago, so luckily I don't have to show it here!
So for the next effort, I just left the background blank so I could put the focus on the heron:
I liked the heron fine, but not the background. It was okay, but could be better. This week I decided to try again, and use a bit of artistic license. Herons like to hang out in marshes, so I dispensed with the lily pads and replaced them with marsh grass, kept soft in order to keep the focus on the bird:
I love artistic license! I like this version. I'm especially happy with how the feathers turned out -- here is a close-up of the midsection:
Usually in watercolor, one works from light to dark, but in this piece, for the feathers, I put the shadows in first and added the mid-tones and lighter tones pretty much at the same time, and when it was dry, put in a few highlights with white gouache. Because there were so many feathers and different ways they lay, putting in the darks first helped keep the various sections well defined as I painted in the rest. I think that worked out well!
Very nice! I like the one where the bird is simply on the rock because you definitely focus on the bird in that one, although I suppose the grass is more realistic. They are both great.
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly. The rock is actually a tree stump (though it certainly can look like a rock), and in the first effort the stump seems to float in the air a bit. But yeah, overall I think it's fine. But I got a blotch of paint on it -- you can see a spot to the right of the bill -- that I couldn't get wiped out, and that blemish bothered me enough to try painting it again. Glad I did!
DeleteThank you for the close-up! I was just wishing I could see the picture larger and there you were, doing just that. Especially up close, it's particularly convincing. I want to see some originals.
ReplyDeleteCome on by the house some time! Or, maybe in a couple of months, stop by the Four Corners Frame Shop in the U-District. I'd taken my portrait of Truman there to frame, and while talking with the owner about the watercolors of birds that are my favored subject matter, she invited me to bring work in to sell on commission. She handles the matting and framing. She said birds were popular subjects and she didn't get enough of them to sell. We shall see what happens there!
DeleteThis one is 5-1/2" x 8" (I have TINY brushes) so it probably wouldn't be priced very high. Buy yourself an early birthday gift!
Hey, I was going to suggest you should exhibit somewhere! Let me know when the frame shop has some and I'll come look. Or maybe I'll come up and see you some time! My friend Tish has admired some of your "urban sketcher" work and wondered if you sold anything.
DeleteMy other idea for getting together involves you taking the water taxi to the West Seattle and then us walking along the water so you can help me with my grebe identification. I am wondering if I may have seen red-necked grebes this evening. It makes me *crazy* that I can't identify these birds. When I saw that one bird was a pigeon guillemot I was so happy because at least there I had some certainty. (Seriously, there are some excellent birds off West Seattle. Barrow's goldeneyes! You should come see! And we have a Top Pot Doughnut at Alki now.)
Tell Tish I have a shop at: http://imagekind.com/art/stunning/mizmak/artwork-on/fine-art-prints which is just getting underway and I'm planning to add a lot more stuff in the next week or so. I hadn't thought of putting any urban sketches up there, though, if that's what she's interested in. Will go ponder that. I'll keep everybody posted on how the frame shop thing works out, if it does.
DeleteI didn't realize the water taxi was running now! Is it year-round? I think that's a fabulous idea. And there should be Red-necked Grebes in your waters -- more in Winter, but it's still Winter, I don't think they've thinned out yet. Bins are really hard for salt-water bird ID, and I wish scopes weren't so heavy/bulky to cart around or I'd get one. They're truly the best for that sort of thing. I have trouble with grebes, too and they are especially hard when they are molting.
I'm trying to cut down on sugar so Top Pot does not particularly appeal -- what else ya got?
We had Barrow's Goldeneyes consistently on our Golden Gardens visits -- I even got a photo of one with a crab in its bill -- fabulous birds.
This weekend I'm hoping (if the sun comes out long enough) to get to the campus to sketch the cherry trees which are in bloom now. Let's keep an eye on upcoming weekends for sunshine, and then I'll make a sojourn across the Whulj.
Well it turns out that during the "winter" the water taxi runs only during the week but, happily, the "summer" season starts April 6th and, what with one thing and another, I don't see us getting together any earlier than that! I will shift this discussion to email.
DeleteThe universal (meaning three people now) consensus seems to be that what I saw were red-necked grebes and I shouldn't be the least surprised by it. Some day perhaps I'll understand what's unusual and what isn't. -m
WELL - keeping secrets eh? I'm mightily impressed with the Image Kind webpage and will check it out from time to time. What kind of commission do you get on your work there? Gee, I wish I knew someone like you with lots of talent who would give me stuff for free - LOL. Seriously, I think it's great that you might be making some moolah on your work because it's all terrific. Hope the frame shop works out too!!
ReplyDeleteI hesitate to mention stuff like that as it's early days in my exploration of Making Moolah from Art, which is not something I've ever had much interest in. The Imagekind site was created initially because I wanted some nice prints of my own work, though one friend did want to get something there nicely framed as a gift. So I never did anything with it.
DeleteBut sometimes the universe sends me signs, and perhaps the frame shop owner's invitation was a sign I might want to pay attention to -- I'm certainly going to show her some of my watercolors and see if she really does want to hang them. Until it's more definite, though, I'm keeping it under the radar more or less. I noticed she also had photographs for sale -- I might show her a few of my best bird ones as well.
I didn't mark up the Imagekind stuff much at all -- I think only 10%. If this turns into a "phasing-into-retirement-hobby-turned-into-extra-income" thing, and actually works out, then I'll try slowly raising that. We shall just have to wait and see!
Sounds great. I hope it all works out! The frame shop thing sounds like it could be a pretty good deal if she likes your stuff & I don't know why she wouldn't!
Delete