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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Kelly - Painting 14


This is the same Black-bellid Plover that appears in painting 11. Wondering where his "black belly" is? He's in his non-breeding plumage here, so he's pretty much gray, light brown and white. I saw him last March on Longboat Key, Florida. He will slowly darken up as his breeding plumage comes in and he heads north for his breeding grounds.

I enjoyed painting the shadows on this bird...his round little belly and feathers were fun! Lately I've been completing a separate pencil sketch for my watercolors. I'm glad I did a graphite pencil study first. The studies are really helping me get to know the bird better and help me solve problems before I put paint to paper.

7 comments:

Mermaid's Palette said...

Love him, Kelly- He looks so soft! Nice shading and his shadow is nice also!

Lorrie Klosterman said...

This is really gorgeous! It could be right out of a birding field guide, and has charm as well. Kelly, what size paper do you find is good for working in this degree of detail?
Cheers!

Kelly said...

Sheryl...thank you!

Lorrie...I forgot to include the size. I usually do. Lately I've been working on 12 x 16, but this guy doesn't entirely fill the page. I just measured the bird to check his size, and from toes to head he is 11 inches tall. He looks like he's really detailed, but if you look closely, he's just a bunch of layers and shadows. It was so relaxing blending all the colors in layers.

Claire M said...

I love all the detail that you've captured in his feathers, overall shape, shadowing, and even texture on the ground. The coloring in his eye and beak seem just right too - very believable.

Kelly said...

...thanks, Claire! I definitely worked a little harder on this one. I loved his face and sweet little eye and wanted to capture that.

Elva Paulson said...

Nice plover, Kelly. You caught how delicate they look .. and perky.

Linda McGeary said...

Hi Kelly,
Beautiful work as usal. It's been awhile since I've been to visit. When my sister died and then my sister in law just a few months later, I found myself up to my eyebrows in estates business for my sister and I just got knocked off course.
I'm working on a novel now, that is keeping me busy, but I just wanted to check out what creative things you've been doing and I love this bird. Also the other painting I've seen of yours.
Linda