Tag: Bird Art

Killdeer v3.0

Posted in Bird Art, Birds, Birds of North America, Pen & Wash Watercolor, Photography, Watercolor, Watercolor PaintingTagged , , , , , , , , , 13 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

So, the other day when I posted my Draw-a-Bird Killdeer I meant to post it with my second painting, but had one glass of vin too many me thinks because, I actually posted the first Killdeer line and wash I tried.  I’m so blond!

I wasn’t totally happy with version 2  though it was better than the first drawing and painting, so I quickly got started on a version 3 which I finished yesterday afternoon.

Killdeer in Watercolor

My notes in the right corner are about the tools I used to make this line and wash.

Micron 0.3 pen, Sennelier watercolor paints, Brushes: 0/0 rigger by Simmons, #6 rd Escoda Reserva, and #12 rd Mimik Kolinsky. Painted in a Strathmore  400 series  8.5″X 5.5″ Watercolor Journal.

It’s been fun and exciting seeing my progress with each drawing and wash. I am happy with the way version 3 came out.

version 2

Killdeer V2

and the first attempt.

Killdeer in Watercolor

With each drawing I got the shape, and markings a bit better, and the placement on the page better as well. My next step is to draw and paint it on a bigger sheet of Arches watercolor paper.  I’m going to begin that today or tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Images taken with a Panasonic Lumix FZ200| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Draw-a-Bird Day Anna’s Hummingbird

Posted in Anna's Hummingbird, Art, Bird Art, Create Art Everyday, Fine Art, Pen & Wash Watercolor, Photography, Watercolor, Watercolor PaintingTagged , , , , , , , 34 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

How neat that Draw-a-Bird Day falls on Mother’s Day in the US this month. I hope all Mothers everywhere have a wonderful day!

For this month’s Draw-a-Bird Day I painted an Anna’s Hummingbird.

Watercolor- Anna's Hummingbird

Not without much trial and error though. This is my 4th attempt. The first 3 have been shredded.  I couldn’t get the proportion right; it was too short, too fat, too long, or too thin.

After talking to Myriam  about my trials with it she asked me if I had used a ruler or my grid? I hadn’t.  On this last try I used the ole pencil ruler trick and got a lot closer to what I wanted in terms of size and proportion.  Thank you Myriam!

I’ve been following watercolor artist Alan Owen on Youtube for quite awhile, and he always adds a matte board frame to his piece on completion, and the work that looked great before the matte frame looks more like art with it. I tucked that thought away to get some matte boards.  Lately fellow blogger Jodi over at lifeinbetween.me  has been adding a matte board frame to the work she shares and it just looks terrific. I went over  to the art store early this week and finally bought a few to see how my bird watercolor pieces look.  I like the way it looks. It dresses it up. 🙂  He-Man said I need to get frames now and hang them. We’ll see.

My muse for this Anna’s Hummingbird is an image I made in March this year.

Anna's Hummingbird Female perched on a branch

Myriam thought it would make a wonderful subject for a drawing or painting. I think so too.

This is part of Draw-a-Bird Day over at Laura’s Createartevery.com . To see all the bird art posted today click here.  Scroll down to the comments to see the links to all the posts shared this month. 

To read the original story of how Draw-a-Bird Day got started click here

Images- Nikon Df| Delkin Digital Film| Nikkor 105mm & 200-500mm lenses| PS CC 2015

More to come…

Violet-Green Swallow Pen & Wash

Posted in Bird Art, Birds, Birds of North America, Pen & Wash Watercolor, Photography, Watercolor, Watercolor PaintingTagged , , , , , , , , 28 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I don’t normally post twice in a day, but as it’s St. Patrick’s Day I thought I’d post something Green in honor of it.

Watercolor Line and Wash Violet-Green Swallow

I painted this with Turner Artists Watercolor paints, on Canson 140 lb Cold Press Fine

Grain paper.  I used my 12 round Mimik Kolinsky, #8 round Robert Simmons Sapphire, and #6 rd Winson & Newton Kolinsky Sable brushes, and Pigma Micron 03, 05, and 01 pens.

My reference image is one of my own which I made in the Spring of 2014. You can see the reference image here.

I hope you all have a great St. Paddy’s Day!

Panasonic Lumix FZ200| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Hand-held in natural light| PS CC 2015

More to come…