Yellow-rumped Warbler #80

This is a very small painting, ATC size. The inspiration comes from one of our Yellowstone photographs. Just before we leave Yellowstone the little birds start arriving in earnest. They come late to the high country.

Painted with watercolor on illustration board.

#10 Dom Perignon Cork - Sheryl Hawkins

I enjoy using wine corks as painting subjects. I love to paint corks because there is an abundance of detail and each one is unique. I like the different logo designs stamped on them, along with all the nooks and crannies that make them one of a kind. Most of the corks I have are wine corks, but there more than a few champagne corks also. Christmas, New Years, anniversaries- they deserve champagne at our house. With the holidays almost upon us, it made me think a champagne cork would be a good watercolor. I have painted many corks in the past, but they have all been close to their true size. I wanted to try out larger than life corks. I have to say, it was lots of fun- more area to work with meant more fun with the details.

Kelly - Painting 84

Painting 84

Oil pastel

12x16 Arches Cold Pressed 140 Lb Paper

I painted this Hooded Warbler on 12x16 paper, forgetting my scanner can only handle 9x12! So...a good deal of the background has been cut off. Matty and I found this fellow in the deep woods this summer. He came in very close for the camera, but I lost the memory card that held the captures! I kept thinking I would create him from my memory...but never put in the effort. Finally, the challenge helped me do it. These little summertime warblers are so beautiful. I can never get enough of them.

Owls and the Moon #79

Painted from memories new ones and old ones. Two nights ago my husband and I spotted a great horned owl about a block from home. We could hear a youngster calling nearby and another adult farther off.

Yesterday I listened for the owls. All was quiet. But the nearly full moon was lovely. When I looked out the dark sky still held some of the day’s blueness and soft clouds softened the outline of the moon.

Late this afternoon I got an itch to create a little painting from the owls, the moon, and from memories. The only reference I used was a 20 minute sketch of my neighbor’s scraggly cedar. I’ve got owls embedded in my brain because I grew up with great horned owls flying free outside, and getting into mischief inside, my parent’s home. My favorite was “Minerva,” an owlet I raised from tiny on.

And if this subject matter looks familiar, I posted a great horned owl and moon as my challenge #15, in the middle of last March. I like the color in this way better. Back then I knew I wanted to handle night color but didn’t know where to begin.

Kelly - Painting 83

Painting 83

Pencil drawing, watercolor, oil pastel, soft pastel

9x12 Arches Rough 140 Lb Paper

The process on this painting was similar to Painting 82, but I deviated on the background, bringing in a square-shaped soft pastel to scrape some of the oil pastel away and then leave its powdery residue behind to be smeared over the rest of the painting. I love experimenting with these different styles. It's so much fun to make up things as you go!

Kelly - Painting 82

Painting 82

Pencil drawing, watercolor, oil pastel

9x12 Arches Rough 140 Lb Paper

This little Red-breasted Nuthatch started its life as a pencil drawing, but soon morphed into a watercolor...then a night later decided he needed to be rendered in oil pastels.

Kelly - Painting 81

Painting 81

Pencil drawing with watercolor

9x12 Arches Rough 140 Lb Paper

I drew this little White-breasted Nuthatch in the car, so the pencil drawing was a bit heavy. I then painted him in that evening. Do you recognize him? He's from the same ref photo I used for the ATC painting #57.

Foggy Forest # 78

My first acrylic painting since I started the challenge. I knew it would take several layers to get the effect I was after and figured watercolors would probably turn to mud in the process. I used to paint a lot with acrylics, but this is the second in a decade. Let’s hope the coming decade is a little more productive!

I painted this from a photo Dale took recently. The sun had thinned the fog, but hadn’t obliterated it. The result was magical rays of sun reaching deep into the forest. In all honesty the photographs we took that day are way more awesome than my painting, but I enjoyed trying to build depth into my painting.

#7,8,9 Christmas card watercolors- Sheryl Hawkins

Sorry about posting multiple paintings in one post, but they just go together. Now, I will go back to posting one painting at a time- so I don't make anyone crazy!

I have been working on watercolors for Christmas cards. Some I liked and some got tossed. I started with more "beachy" ideas and just decided I wanted a more "Christmassy" feel. Add to that, the fact that I wanted to paint "2010" written in the sand, and it just wasn't working to my satisfaction. SO- these are the 3 paintings I liked the most. I want to see red and green at Christmas, so the beach just got left behind in favor of shiny lights and jingle bells with ribbon! I am definitely into painting shiny lately- metal and glass. I have been working on reflections- I enjoy painting reflective surfaces, but they do have their unique difficulties. As an artist who loves still life, reflections are a major factor- so why not get comfortable with painting them? Now, to Photoshop and Print Shop and all the not so fun computer work that goes into turning a watercolor into a card.

Kelly - Paintings 77, 78, 79 & 80, Red-breasted Nuthatches

Sunday morning I went birding at Winton Woods (a Hamilton County park in Cincinnati, OH) with the Cincinnati Audubon Society. At one point, we were in a stand of pine trees filled with Red-breasted Nuthatches. The little birds are lighting fast...and constantly moving. Their nasally calls were soothing and surrounded us. That evening I painted the three acrylics from memory. It was cold and overcast that morning signaling the end of our Indian summer...and even the end of autumn.

Painting #80

Painted on 9x12 Arches Rough 140 Lb Paper, Watercolor

I painted this fellow Monday night and took a bit of time with him. I used a very light pencil sketch underneath so the water colors could be vibrant and not weighed down by graphite showing through.

Painting 79

Painted on 9x12 Acrylic Paper, Acrylic

Trying to capture the movement of these little birds and autumn's last hurrah, I painted the three acrylics quickly without a drawing underneath, adding in a dark background to relay the gloom of the morning (and the end of autumn). Flashes of autumn color give a nod to the season at it tries to hold on, but we know winter is on the way.

Painting 78

Painted on 9x12 Acrylic Paper, Acrylic

Painting 77

Painted on 9x12 Acrylic Paper, Acrylic

#6 Corkscrew - Sheryl Hawkins

I have been painting a lot recently, but don't want to post too many at one time, so I am pacing myself on the posting! This is one of my latest- I have been practicing painting reflections on metal and glass. I am hoping that the more I practice them, the easier they will become to paint. The difficulty with the corkscrew wasn't even the reflections, it was the crazy perspective problems!

Watercolor

# 45 The teak tree

Another 20 min challenge! Sitting in the hotel room on my recent trip to the foothills of the Himalayas in Assam I decided to paint this teak tree outside the window. I focused on the large leaves and painted straight on to the paper with very wet paints and no drawing.  I didn't think too much about what I was doing but used instinct and colours as I saw it! It was quick and bold! Not my usual style of painting, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Its a milestone really, as I seem to have  got the perspective of the path, and all this without spending too much time first drawing out the picture! Certainly will try this some more! 

Nibbling #77

I finished my doe today. It is a mule deer doe, nibbling on willow leaves. Mule deer have such big ears. When I first saw one I could hardly believe my eyes. Not to be biased, but I’d rather draw a dozen mule deer than one white-tailed deer.

I saw this doe about three weeks ago when we went down to the Klamath Basin to camp. A small group of deer were feeding in the strip of land between wetlands and a steep rocky cliff. That area isn't hunted, so the deer are quite tolerant of our presence.

Pigma pen and watercolor.

Sitka Spruce # 76

Other than field sketches I haven’t had time to paint/draw for two weeks. I began to feel like a boil ready to burst. My world has been full of geek stuff. Today I promised myself a chunk of time to paint. It felt so good! It also made me realize how good this challenge has been for me. A year ago I probably would have read a good book ‘in my time off.’ Today I craved an opportunity to paint.

This little painting is done from an old photo I took years ago because I wanted to paint the scene. I was intrigued by the funny long arms of the Sitka spruce and the golden dune grass, along with the gorse and bushes. I painted this quite loosy goosy for me. I was also working on a more detailed piece of a doe (soon to post, I hope) and needed something to keep me busy during the times I needed paint to dry.

Kelly - Paintings 75 & 76

Painting 76

9x12 Arches Rough 140 Lb Paper, Watercolor

I drew this white-breasted Nuthatch in the car as I waited for Matty at school. I finished up the drawing and added the watercolor at his tennis clinic. I used to read while I waited, but now that I'm not afraid to paint and draw in public, I'm using the time to meet the 100 painting challenge. (My booklist, however, has come to a screeching halt!)

Painting 75

7x10 Arches Cold Pressed 140 Lb Paper, Watercolor

I drew and painted this Golden-crowned Kinglet in the car as I waited for Matty. It only took 15 minutes. I wanted to see if I could capture a fair representation quickly. I'd like to redo this one and spend more time on it. I saw both of these birds on the Little Miami Trail...and drew them from ref photos I took then.

#4 and #5 "Veterans Day"- Sheryl Hawkins

Veterans Day has always been a meaningful day in our house. Our sons grew up with two veterans in their family- grandfather (USMC Korea) and dad (USMC Vietnam) and both grew up to be veterans themselves (USAF Afghanistan and Iraq) .

When I was in junior high, many of us had P.O.W. bracelets to honor the many Prisoners of War during the Vietnam years. I do not remember how long we wore them, but I do remember when we got to see many of them getting off the planes in 1973-finally home. For the time I wore the bracelet, I only knew the name of this hero. When the former prisoners returned home, I had a face to match to the name. LCDR Edward Davis was a navy pilot who flew 57 missions before being captured and held for 7 1/2 years. A hero.

When I came across this bracelet in a drawer recently, I wanted to use it in a watercolor. I ended up painting it twice because I wasn't sure the first attempt (from above, kind of difficult perspective) was what I wanted. When I went with the straight on view, I was happier with the painting. I have been working on painting reflections and metal lately, so this was a good learning project for me.

Kelly - Paintings 72 -74

Painting 72

9x12 Acrylic Paper, Acrylic

I painted this Carolina Wren about a week ago with a palette knife and lots of thick, rich paint. The paint just finished drying enough to go under the scanner's glass today. I'd never painted with a palette knife before, and I really liked it! The painting has the look of carved leather--the scanner didn't do this one justice...

Painting 73

9x12 Acrylic Paper, Acrylic

This painting has also been sitting for about a week waiting to dry. When applied thick, the Open Acrylics really do act like oils. I didn't use a palette knife on this one...just quick strokes of thick paint with a brush.

Painting 74

9x12 Arches Rough Watercolor Paper, Watercolor

I drew and painted this one over a period of three days sitting in my car as I waited to pick Matty up from school. I'd just crawl over to the passenger seat and pull out a ref photo and watercolor block and start sketching and painting. Water brushes come with their own water supply, so they make it easy.

#3 "Hidden Nest"- Sheryl Hawkins

I took this photo in my garden in the Spring. I kept seeing birds flying in and out of my tree rose and took a peek when they had flown away. It just seemed like it needed to be painted! My main challenge with this watercolor, was to make the nest look like it was inside the rose bush with leaves almost hiding it. Hopefully, my darker values inside the nest helped it recede a bit. I also intentionally left the roses more obscure and less detailed so they wouldn't be a main focus- but at the same time, I wanted their color. This watercolor is painted on cold pressed rough surface paper for its added texture.

-Watercolor 9X13"

# 44 My flowering cactus!

I'm posting in the challenge after a very long time....I have had my daughter and grand daughter visiting for the first time, so was totally immersed being grand mom! This the 3rd time this cactus has flowered. I followed it closely this time as every other time I thought it died at the bud stage. This time I managed to catch it in full bloom for a very short period, late at night! Its such a huge bud for such a small plant, and the flower was a glorious white bloom with deep pink tinted petals! I should have painted the flower but it was very late at night, and I didn't realise it would start fading in a few hours! I did it as a twenty minute challenge as well as for Cactus Monday!

#2 "Raisin Harvest"- Sheryl Hawkins

I have been busy painting, and didn't realize that it had been three weeks since I posted my first painting for the challenge! Maybe its time for me to get organized.

This vineyard painting is a watercolor- 18X24 on rough surface paper. I love painting vineyards, and thought this was going to be more fun than it turned out to be. We used to live on a vineyard and I took many photos of the vines at different times of the year. Harvest time was one of my favorites because the grape leaves start to change color and the green grapes on the trays turn to a dark brownish purple.

I had trouble getting my shadows the way I wanted them, and had to lift paint and try again to get the cast shadows the purplish tone that I was looking for. I also repainted the vines on the shade side with added ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson to get a purplish green there. My next problem when I finally finished, was getting it scanned in 4 sections to stitch together. It wasn't matching up well, so I am just going to post a photo instead.

-watercolor

# 75 Update

I love it! Laure sent me another crop choice ... by getting rid of those long dark stretches on the outer edges, the viewer's eye stays within the image and the dragonfly holds his position of importance.

Her advice is a wonderful example of how much we can learn from each other.