New To You But Not To Me ..

Is this watercolor painting of a Chickadee resting on a barberry bush limb, with lustrous red berries, during the winter season. I say that this is not new to me because of the fact that I painted it about 10 months ago, in January. Sometimes it takes me longer than expected when it comes to posting about new creations. Often I think I may touch this up, or adjust that, then time gets away from me. But there is no time like the present.

During That Timeframe ..

I was inspired to paint several bird themed watercolors. Although I did enjoy painting them, they are not the most pleasurable subject of choice for me. In my opinion, they can be rather frustrating to paint. All of those little details needing the painters attention, can be down right overwhelming. But I gave it my best try. I ran into some flaws and inaccuracies, which are evident in the finished paintings below, but that is to be expected with ones first attempt at painting any subject.

I'm okay with that since they still came out looking like birds. hehehe...

The Sparrows and Chickadees ..

Can always be found around our landscape, here in New Jersey, all year round. I sometimes here them, but most of the time I see them fluttering around the bushes and low lying tree branches in search of company and food. I had often seen the Chickadees jumping around and within our Barberry shrubs. It was so warming to see on those cold winters days that often roll in so unexpectedly.

And this vision.. this mental picture, was the primary inspiration of this unnamed watercolor painting.

I thought for a change of pace, that I would share the progression photos with you first. It's always nice (In my opinion) to see progress shots, even though I sometimes forget to take them.

I always like to put a few small pencil marks or a light sketch on the paper .. First, before jumping right into painting. This is especially true when the work has more detail as well as areas I don't want to paint over at the very beginning stages of the process. I guess that what I am trying to say is that it helps me make sure that I keep things where they're supposed to be.

This time I made sure to keep the feet small and appropriately sized.. hahaha.. A problem I had with one of my other bird paintings. I laid in colors that are typically found on a Chickadee; A dark head, rusty colored red chest, and touches of bluish-grey found along the wings. I also painted in the dark, hard lines that represent the wing feathers, in their tucked back position.

Then the Barberry.. I wanted to roughly paint in a few Barberry branches in order to get a little depth and perspective. I always liked those paintings with birds and berries that dangled down, so why not include something I like in this painting? So that's what I did. It is also representational of they type of scene I was writing about earlier, found here in my own yard during the cold months.

I painted the the berries a lighter red, that I will darken a bit later. I was also very cautious not to paint over a few small white areas, like that of the birds eye. These areas are left white and unpainted so that they will appear as areas of reflection. A tip or trick that took me a few times of messing up, in order to remember. Small details, such as the dabs of blue at the ends of the berries, also make subtle but big impacts on the overall composition.

Below you will see that I added little wire like wisps to the birds body. I saw this once in a learning tutorial, but don't seem to have the technique mastered yet. lol. Practice, practice, practice I suppose. The small, yet unrefined, detail does add quite a bit to the piece. I think it gives the bird a soft, fluffy look. Birds of winter, tend to fluff up with extra feathers for winter.. Their winter feathers I call it. Not sure of the accuracy in this, so please fact check before repeating. lol.

After I was satisfied with my Chickadee .. I got to work on the background. I chose a blue/green look; A grey-blue blended with touches of green for warmth. I like the way the watercolor works for backgrounds. It can be finely blended, or it can be blocky and loose like in my painting. Since I painted the background in last instead of first, it takes on a more blotchy look. I for one like that.

I also added a few touches of darker blue along the left edge of the berries and berry stems. This small detail helps make them pop as well as define the shaded edge. A few dark, hard lines along the branches, also defines their presence. I didn't want them to stand out too much, just enough that they look like branches.

In the final steps.. I softened the birds body with some touches of white paint. I also made the birds pupil a bit larger. I felt like the pinhole of white in the eye was just not enough.

All that was left after those small touches, was to carefully peal off the tape and to add my signature.

And It's Finished!

Will I Ever Paint Another Bird???

Probably.. but not today. The weather is supposed to be like summer today. I think we'll head out and enjoy some of it before those winter temperatures start rolling in. Those days, and the inspirations they bring, are not far off. The day's I feel inspired to paint, will be on my doorstep before I know it!

Birds aren't the only ones who like to lie in nests.. Molly made one out of a tuft of grass once. Too cute if you ask me. Pepper looked on and guarded her while she slept, as any big brother would do. Damn, it still hurts to miss him.

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.”
― Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

Thank you for swinging by my blog and checking out the post. Have a great day!

All words, pictures and art pieces are the sole property of B D Miller Gallery, unless otherwise noted and credited, and are not to be reproduced or copied without the prior written consent of B D Miller Gallery.

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