Spring Blue Skies - Bird #34

It has been a little while since I've painted a chickadee and I found myself itching to paint one again. My painting time in the studio has been somewhat inconsistent lately... I've been finding the allure of the blue spring skies outside just too much... the garden beckons me to come out to till and plant. Who is to argue!


Spring Blue Skies
3.5" x 2.5" Watercolour
© 2010

Spring has Sprung - Bird #33

Originally inspired by the warming spring days (though, the temperatures have been steadily decreasing again) and the poking up of spring flowers from the ground.... I painted this little guy with my favourite 'spring-y' colours: DS Sleeping Beauty Turquoise and DS Green Apatite Genuine. Though the cool weather has returned for (a few) days, the weather person has assured us that soon the warm weather will return.


Spring has Sprung
3.5" x 2.5" Watercolour
© 2010

Morning Dew - Bird #32

First painting in my new place... ahhh it feels good to be painting again.


Morning Dew
3.5" x 2.5" Watercolour
© 2010

Transitions - Bird #31

My first painting in nearly a month and boy does it feel good to pick up the paint brushes again. I haven't quite moved into my new place (nine days and counting), but I do have a travel set of watercolours and some pre-cut paper until my stuff is all moved in. Soon... soon....




Transistions
2.5" x 3.5" Watercolour
© 2010

Cheeky - Bird #30

I didn´t have the energy (or the will) to deal with the windows computer tonight so, it is another night on the linux box for me. I´m starting to work more with it and starting to figure out how the heck to use it... so that is always good. The only downside so far is that not all my printers have drivers available in linux. I may not be able to completely get rid of the windows computer yet.

Tonight... another lunch time painting to present. This one is a little Titmouse and he seemed to have a bit of a cheeky look to him... hence the name.



Cheeky
2.5" x 3.5" Watercolour
© 2010

Close Up - Bird #29

I´m posting this from my ´server computer´ which runs Ubuntu Linux since, about 3 hours ago, my happy little Windows computer decided to die. By die, I mean for several hours I couldn´t get it to boot and now that I can get it to boot... none of the input devices (ie... keyboard and mouse) will work. sigh.

Anywho.... I finished this little guy at work today. Lots of fun and very relaxing. I find painting these little guys helps to distract me from the fast pace of life and computer malfunctions.



Close Up
3.5" x 2.5" Watercolour
© 2010

Snow Drops - Bird #28

In celebration of all the beautiful weather (minus the rain) that the west coast is experiencing I thought I would paint something a little bit 'spring-ish'. I heard on the news the other day that there are even some spring blossoms starting to appear around town. Kinda hard to believe that it is still January!



Snow Drops
2.5" x 3.5" Watercolour
© 2010

Red Berries - Bird #27

Long day today, so I decided to finish another small painting tonight rather than working on the big bike painting. I find these little painting nice and relaxing to do and perfect for a low energy evening.



Red Berries
2.5" x 3.5" Watercolour
© 2010

Bright Eye - Bird #6

This little guy was a fun quick painting to do today... and he seems to have the 'first thing in the morning' bright eye look about him (hence the painting title). It was also great to finish a painting in one setting, something that I haven't done for quite some time now. I have a couple more bird paintings on the go and I think I just may sneak in a couple of floral paints to.


Bright Eye
2.5" x 3.5" Watercolour
© 2009

Spring Garden

I got frustrated with the flower in the hummingbird painting, so I took a break and painting this little one to work out some frustrations and practice some flowers. I do have to admit that pansies are my favourite flowers both to grow and the paint. I'm still plugging away at the hummingbird paintings and it will be done in the near future.


Spring Garden
3.5" x 2.5" watercolour
© 2009

Lil' Titmouse

Today's painting is a lil' titmouse (thanks to blmiers2 at Flickr for permission to use her wonderful bird photos). I have a few more bird paintings lined up that will make their appearance over the next week.



2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2009

Sunlight Pear

Another favourite summer/fall fruit of mine... one that I have been sketching for a while now and finally have (finished) a painting of it. These little sketch-paintings have been great fun playing with colours and trying to increase the contrast between lights and darks in my paintings. It will be back to birds tomorrow with another update on my latest chickadee painting.



Sunlight Pear
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2009

Early Spring Leaves

I'm really happy with the way this one turned out tonight, especially the fresh spring leaves. The weather is starting to warm up, and today I noticed the first spring bulbs starting to push up towards the sky. I can't wait for all the blossoms to erupt and all the colours to appear.


"Early Spring Leaves"
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2009

Clear Skies

A happy little chickadee on a clear crisp day. Well, it wasn't actually clear out here (pea soup fog for five days now), but I am sure this is what a clear day would look like. Perhaps we'll see some sunshine tomorrow.



"Clear Skies"
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2009

Lily of the Valley

A new little chickadee tonight using a photograph of a flower I took a couple years ago as the background. I've been looking for an excuse to paint these lily of the valley's and I think I found the perfect picture for it.



"Lily of the Valley"
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2009

Dreamin of Spring Blossoms

With the snow starting to melt and dreams of spring on my mind... I painted this little guy amongst some of the first blossoms that I see in my area... pansies! Soon spring will be here and I'll have all the spring blossom references I can wish for.



"Dreamin of Spring Blossoms"
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2009

Dark and Stormy Night

There was more snow again last night which inspired me to paint this little fellow today. Flipping through some of the painting that I have completed recently I noticed that I have not painted too many wintery pictures. That will have to change. Even though I do complain of the snow... there is a calm happy feeling watching it slowly float to the ground. Or... sometimes it is blizzarding so hard that one can hardly see across the street. I think the later image more closely represents the painting below... either way, it was fun to paint.



"Dark and Stormy Night"
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2009

Oh, and the forecast for the next five days... rain. Go figure!

Pansy Garden

With all the snow falling (and on the ground) I decided to paint something to remind me of warmer times... something spring-ish. I also do have to admit that pansys are my favourite flower and I think I have somewhat figured out how to paint them.



"Pansy Garden"
3.5" x 2.5" watercolour
© 2008

Holiday Berries

With the holiday season right around the corner, I thought it would be fitting to paint at least one holiday themed painting this year. One can find these prickly holly plant all over Vancouver and their prickly leaves let you know if you've come a little too close.



"Holiday Berries"
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2008

Early Snow

The snow hasn't started falling here yet... but, for the first time this season, I saw wet snow flurries in the extended weather forecast. I'm hoping for the snow not to come yet as I am still enjoying the 'green' outside. I really love painting song birds, but I seem to always paint bluebirds, robins, and chickadees. A pattern I should perhaps deviate from.... mmm... So, what other songbirds should I paint? Any suggestions?



"Early Snow"
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2008