DECORATIVE GOURD

 

Now that we are heading towards Fall over in this part of the world, I have been seeing a lot of gourds in many of the shops we have visited. After collecting a selection of them, I decided to do a series of paintings featuring these interesting items. As an artist, their many different colors and shapes makes for some exciting images (at least as far as I am concerned) so to get things started, I did this one shown above trying not to spend a lot of time or do anything too detailed. I'm still not sure if the series will be in watercolor or oil, and since this one is a watercolor, I'm expecting the next study to be an oil. Size is 8 x 10 inches (20 x 26cm).

EASTERN SHORE MARSH

 

This painting seemed to take forever to finish. I completely repainted the sky and also redid the foreground - twice! Finally though, I think I got closer to what I had in mind a few months ago when I first started it. The idea was formed in my mind one sunny but cold day in early winter while out walking around Chincoteague. Sunlight filtered down from the thin layer of clouds above and lit up the distant water while just above the treeline, a thin layer of blue could be seen that soon disappeared as clouds filled in. The weather quickly turned blustery and cold again so we moved on to see what the rest of the area had to offer. This oil on canvas is 9 x 12 inches.

PEN AND INK DRAWINGS

 

Whenever I start a new journal, I illustrate the front of each one with a pen and ink drawing. This Short-eared Owl was done on an older journal that I filled during the winter of 2002. That one contains mostly notes on birds seen on a day to day basis but I also wrote about the weather, any mammals seen and actually anything else of note. Being by the coast, I witnessed a lot of bird migration - some days noting thousands of birds passing overhead! I soon ran out of space so started a new one.

This barred Owl graces the cover of my second journal completed that winter. This one mostly covers observations during late winter and the beginning of some early spring migration.

Usually I only write up notes and observations in my journals but occasionally do small drawings directly inside - especially if I have a bit of time during birding lulls.

This small drawing was done on the bottom of a page as I sat looking over Guard Shore inlet in the Chesapeake. This was a favorite place to visit and being winter, was usually deserted so it was just us, the amazing landscape and the birds!

BARN SWALLOWS, PART 3

 

As is usual with a lot of my work lately, finishing seems to take quite a bit longer than I had hoped. Eventually I got close to how I expected the completed painting to look but I'm sure that after putting it aside for a while, I'll find something else to do to it. I do think I accomplished what I set out to do though and that was to capture these two jewel-like birds sitting in bright sunlight, and the way the light interacted with their plumage. I really like the reflected blue highlights on the heads of each bird and in the shade, how dark that color becomes. Barn Swallows is done in pure watercolor on Arches paper, size is 15 x 11 inches (38 x 28 cm).