more birds

                                 8x8

A little titmouse. Titmouses are winter visitors here in southern NJ, such pretty birds!

                                 6x6

I usually see a lot of house wrens inmy yard, not so many Carolina wrens, but they have been plentiful of late, rummaging in the leaf piles.

mockingbird

                                 11x12

Mockingbird painted with Ronna Fujisawa, whose Zoom classes I am really enjoying.

The feet need some work.

And, below, a mockingbird I painted on my own. I really messed up the placement of the legs; tried to "fix" it and messed it up again.

house sparrows

all @ 4x6

I never tire of the sparrows.

These were all done quickly and loosely. I'd like to try for some larger, more finished paintings ...

zoom landscape class

                               11x12

Painted this WI winter scene in a Zoom workshop with Paul Oman.

While I was painting it I thought it was disastrous ... and up close it really does not look very good!

But, step back and the values take over. And then it doesn't look so bad.

Something I'm often unhappy with are the outlines of things, like the distant tree line, or where the distant trees meet the ground.

When I watch teachers they seem to get a natural-looking outline without fussing. But even when I try for just going for it, I rarely get the edge I envisioned.

Something that will require 10,000 hours of practice.

robins

                              5x7 each

Such a pretty bird. Familiar and pleasing.

Never 100% happy with the breast color ... I want a dark brightness that I haven't figured out how to get.

birds

                               5x7 each

Painted these is a Zoom class with Ronna Fujisawa. 

Persimmon tree on my walk:

snow

                               7x11

... hopefully we'll get some this year. I think it's beautiful and I love the dampening effect it has on reality: everything gets so quiet.

Took a few photos last time we had significant snow here--two winters ago? maybe three! The photos actually don't look like much: all very gray and without strong contrasts. But that gives me a chance to work on my grays.

drawings~possible paintings

My kitchen window ... thinking about a painting. Maybe.

Found a little branch of dried up oak leaves in the yard on Thanksgiving. Did a pen drawing just to observe the shapes ... But I think the "feel" of them would probably be best captured in sumi-style painting. Something I'd like to try ...