BLACK-WINGED STILT

This bird was present at Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong where I was able to study it for awhile and do a number of studies. It was in a party of  6 or 7 other stilts hanging about on the mud of Deep Bay waiting for the rising tide. The view of this birds was into the sun and it had a wonderful halo of white around the head and neck - this was something that I wanted to capture in my painting. Starting as always with a careful drawing, I then laid in the background colors wet into wet then concentrated on finishing the water and the muddy bank. The bird was rendered mostly in shades of soft grey. In Winter, stilts have a beautiful elephant-grey hindneck which turns to black as Summer approaches. I used a greenish black for the back and wings. The improbably long legs were a deep red. This study like so many others is a way of exploring birds in their environment and also as a means to further determine artistic possibilities in the future. The watercolor is 7.5" x 11" (19cm x 28cm).