ian de hoog class

green violet swallow

green heron

green jay

                                                                        green kingfisher

Focus for the four week session was green birds! Kinda hoping he'll do yellow next!

some birds

More birds.

Meadowlark, fox sparrow, red knot.

birds

Some more birds!

Carlina wren, white throated sparrow and house sparrow.

camping fort de soto, fla

Palm tree trunks and, below, the view from our campsite.

We camped for three days and I only painted one morning ... 

daffodils 3

Still looking and trying to paint the shape and character of the daffodil, without drawing, working quick, staying uninvested...

Added some pen here.

Want to add something to the one below--another color? Can't decide.

daffodils 2

First daffodils, freehand. Funny how yellow can be surprisingly (to me?) strong.

And a red bellied woodpecker. I painted his back wet in wet and it looked great, beautiful black and white stripes. ... But the paint kept moving and all of the white was lost.

I'll paint it again.

blue/yellow

The first daffodil and Dutch iris to bloom in my yard.

When I look at these colors side by side now I think of Ukraine.

 

#charsartclass

markers

gouache

gouache

I signed up for an 8 week zoom class given by Char at @blueshineart. (Check out work, and her students' on Instragram.)

She takes a mixed media approach, which is a challenge for me, but a good one.

These exercises are, I think, from week 3. Which puts me about 5 weeks behind!

Often times her reference photos look so difficult and/or complicated to me, but she gets you to jump right in with 30 second to 5 or 10 minute sketches, using all kinds of markers, crayons, paints--whatever you have.

I think it's a great approach--no time to angst over what you're doing or to get too invested in any one sketch. You stop thinking about the "difficulty" ... and the results can be surprisingly pleasing!

more bird classes

A couple of birds I've painted recently in classes with Ian de Hoog on Etchr.

You can also see him on YouTube: I recommend his series on "basic"; his paint "puddles" are really useful!

I think one of the things I'm learning from Ian is where to start, how to think about approaching the bird. And paint handling.

kingfisher

I follow Nadine Dudek on Instagram and admire her paintings, particularly her bird paintings, tremendously. Anytime she offers a tutorial, I sign up!

I think I learn a lot from her about paint handling.

The kingfisher was painted following along with a video available on her website, NadineDudek.com.

my cats

Above: Gilly, Sansa, Melo

Below: Arya

wading birds

A greater yellowlegs painted in the class I take weekly with Ronna Fujisawa at SaltyWaterArt.com.

Among other things, this class is helping me think more about backgrounds, something I really should be thinking more about, whether I add them or not!

And a great blue heron.