Watercolor heightened by pastel
9x12 Arches Cold Pressed 140 lb Watercolor Paper
This male Belted Kingfisher lives on the patch of the Little Miami River I walk often. Every time I'm there, he screams his maniacal call up and down the river. After all these years I've only been able to get two decent photos of him. This painting started its life as the watercolor below. It just seemed too tame for our kingfisher's personality, so I crazied it up a bit. I thought I should include the original watercolor too, because some will prefer it. In our house, Matty LOVES the colorful pastel, but Rick prefers the original watercolor. (I prefer the pastel too...)
...I decided to scan the watercolor just after I started to jazz it up. You can see the beginnings of the orange pastel. I also added white acrylic to the sky, to give the paper more tooth for the pastel.
...I decided to scan the watercolor just after I started to jazz it up. You can see the beginnings of the orange pastel. I also added white acrylic to the sky, to give the paper more tooth for the pastel. 
2 comments:
You've done a great job of capturing the kingfisher's greatest attribute -- bad hair!
I like the the plainer one better, especially its face.
Nice, Kelly! I think I prefer the softer background, because the bird stand out more.
Sheryl
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