Eastern Bluebird Watercolor

I painted this from a photo by the photography team of Maslowski Wildlife Productions.

I found the picture in a calendar for the Children's Cancer Society I had kicking around. It was a gift for my wife's mother Pam. I was quite lucky to have such a great photo to work from!

I'm quite excited about the picture, because it feels like one of my first truly successful watercolors. I have the colors blending in the background washes and there is a nice transition from the blurry background to the crisp foreground. I'm quite excited to try the watercolors out for illustration now!

Working With Wet Blends in Watercolor

Quail

In this painting I was focused on learning how to do color blends with watercolor. If the paper is wet when the paint is applied it is possible to get the colors to mix on the page. Working on wet paper is also a good way to make the edges of the brushstroke less crisp.

I figure if I keep using the watercolors regularly I will be able to find a happy spot with them. In this piece I am interested in the way the colors are more blended instead of being sectioned off like a coloring book. On the other hand, the more I paint in this fashion, the harder it gets to put bold lines over the top. It feels like dark lines can simplify the subtleties of the under-painting.

It will work itself out as I keep using the watercolor, I'm sure. My goal is to develop an illustrative style that feels like a continuation of my acrylic paintings, but can comfortably encompass the needs that illustration dictates.

Copied a Couple of Children from a Bruegel Painting

Copied From Pieter Bruegel's "The Numbering fo the People at Bethlehem"
Using a 100 F drawing pencil, water colors, and Black Prismacolor

I have been having a great time looking through the art of Pieter Bruegel. He was known as the painter of peasants. He used to dress as a peasant and attend weddings so that he could get ideas for his genre paintings. Each image shows so many activities that were common to small 16th century villages in Italy.

My intent is to write and illustrate a children's story. Often when I think of what kind of people I want to put into the story, I think of painting peasants, depicting a life style that is humble and close to the earth.

One of the great things about Bruegel is that he simplifies the people, so they almost feel like caricatures. The facial expressions are really fun too! He likes to paint people with dramatic looks on their faces. Finally, I am noticing that he will fit many different stories into one image. So that the eye can wander around and see many things. It's like he compacts all of the interesting things you might see during a day at the town square and you get to see them al at once!

Learning new techniques with watercolor. ink, and Photoshop

This mouse was drawn with a #2 pencil, a gray Prismacolor Pencil, water color, and a Micron#5 pen.

It was then taken into Photoshop to ad color and shading.

The are a bunch of great tutorials on Youtube that I have been looking at for ideas. I am working on developing an illustrative style for a story that I'm writing..... I will post more later.

Just Returned From a Backpacking Trip

I just made this watercolor when I was hiking up near Tioga Pass (Yosemite) with my family. It was a beautiful time!