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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Kelly - Paintings 18 & 19

I watched this little Golden-crowned Kinglet forage in a stand of dead honeysuckle branches one cold January afternoon. Such a busy little bird, she never stopped even once to pause in her search for food.

Watercolor
12x16 Arches Cold Pressed 140 lb Paper

To get this background, I laid in one wash at an angled stroke and let it throughly dry, the next was was a sporadic flick of the brush...after it dried, the third wash was super fun, I just took a sponge and dipped it in a big puddle of the paint and then wrung it out over the top, letting the watery mix splish and splash...after about 30 minutes I mopped up the biggest puddles and let it dry. I had masked off the branches and bird and painted them in last night.

Watercolor
8x15 Arches Cold Pressed 140 lb Paper

...I wanted just a wisp of a painting here...no details or fuss, just sweetness and winter. I love the little bird's upward glance and made the painting narrow and tall to emphasize the feel.

8 comments:

Bronson Hill Arts said...

Such amazing talent, Kelly. These are beautiful!

-Barb

cindyzlogic said...

Wow!! Kelly!! an extremely gorgeous painting!! I love the composition, details, and colors!

Dora Sislian Themelis said...

Simple and beautiful!

Mermaid's Palette said...

Love these, Kelly- especially the blue background!
Sheryl

Lorrie Klosterman said...

I´m enjoying these unconventional poses for birds... it makes them come alive because they flit around just like this :D Thank you for sharing some of your technique also.

Katie said...

Both of these are simply exquisite! (probably spelled wrong, but meant from the heart) Darling birds and I love the explanation on your background technique.
Thank you!
Katie

Kelly said...

...thanks, Meowlissa (cool name...)!

Barb...thank you!

Cindy...thank you...these might be my favs so far!

...thanks, Dora! I needed simple...been doing too much detaily stuff.

Sheryl...thank you. It was so freeing doing that watery background. I can't wait to do something like it again.

Lorrie...thank you! I know...I usually paint regular poses so you can see the field marks, but I wanted to feel the bird this time, and this is how they feel when they flit (even though you can't see that golden crown!)

Katie...thank you!! This is the first time I attempted a painting like this. I'm so glad I'm part of the challenge, because it makes me think differently about paintings....so I try new things and am not afraid to experiment.

Claire M said...

Awesome paintings! I loved seeing and reading about your beautiful blue background for the one image. Thank you for describing it and sharing it with us.