Friday, September 27, 2013

Common Yellowthroat--The Painting

I began this painting with a varigated wash painted on wet paper using Aureolin, Indian yellow and Prussian Blue.  I wanted to capture a sense of light shining through the blackberry leaves that provide the habitat for my subject, the Common Yellowthroat.  
The Common Yellowthroat is not "common" at all, but a brilliant yellow warbler with a spunky attitude that flits around in the leafy vegetation eating insects.  While bird banding, we frequently hear them in the fields of Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge singing, "witchity, witchity, witchity".  The refuge has recently received a new name and is becoming the first state park in Tennessee to focus primarily on birds and birding:  Seven Islands State Birding Park! 
This painting was commissioned to commemorate this announcement and the conservation of a beautiful property in Knox County that is bordered on three sides by the French Broad River. Not only is diverse grassland habitat being restored and preserved for breeding and wintering birds, the refuge provides valuable research opportunities that help all species of wildlife in the area.
Once I layed down the intial wash and gave it overnight to dry, I began to define the leaves with negative painting, first painting the space between the leaves (above), and then adding some beginning detail to the leaves themselves. 
Early on, I painted the bird so that I could see more clearly how the patterns of light and dark would move the eye through the painting while highlighting the bird as the main focal point.  Color, light patterns, and shapes, all attract the eye's attention.  When the painting is complete, I want that attention to move across the whole painting while keeping the focal point clear.  
The bird is the brightest yellow in the painting and also includes the darkest dark, so that the eye is automatically drawn to the bird.  The challenge then becomes, moving the eye across the rest of the painting. Once I added color to the bird, I realized that I needed another limb to attract and lead the eye off the page to the right.
Above you see I have added more leaves on the right side and another limb, creating a V-shaped pattern that directs the eye downward and up again and off the page.  The red in the berries also leads the eye from left to right.
A detail of the leaves and second limb, above, and detail of leaves in the lower left corner of the painting, below.  Most of the time I am wetting the leaves lightly and adding pigment that spreads unevenly through the leaf.  As that layer dries, but before it is completely dry, I add more color that blends like that of the changing pigment in late summer and fall leaves.  When the area is completely dry, I go back in to add the accent colors that mimic the spots and uneven coloration of blackberry leaves as they mature.  
I enjoyed the detail work in this painting and all the variations in shapes and colors.  Blackberries bring an early sense of fall to the landscape, their leaves changing to a variety of colors as the berries ripen.
The Common Yellowthroat is one of my favorite birds of Seven Islands and one that I was introduced to at the banding table. This painting became a limited edition, signed and numbered print that decorated the tables at the Legacy Luncheon for the Parks where Governor Haslam announced the refuge's new name.  The original watercolor was presented to the refuge founders, Pete and Linda Claussen, to commemorate their years of work in preserving this land for wildlife and Tennesseans.

To learn more about the event visit:  Seven Islands Becomes Tennessee's First Birding Park
To see my sketchbook study for this painting visit:  Using Your Sketchbook to Jump-start Your Painting

Bird banding sketch of Common Yellowthroat
Cornell on Common Yellowthroat

Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge
Legacy Parks Foundation
Seven Islands articles published in The Tennessee Conservationist Magazine
Bird banding at Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Using Your Sketchbook to Jump-start Your Painting

I don't think it's unusual for artists to feel anxious when they begin a painting.  As Ann K. Lindsay, my teacher and mentor expressed it:  "Art is our heart coming right out of us onto the paper, into the world; no wonder we feel so vulnerable...."
Sometimes after I create a drawing for the painting and add the resist to protect desired white areas, I take a deep breath in preparation to begin...and I'm not ready to paint!
The hesitation can be a need to warm up and get rid of nervous jitters, a need to play a little before you get down to the business of painting on watercolor paper.  No one wants to mess up a carefully rendered drawing.  This particular painting, "Common Yellowthroat at Seven Islands" was a commissioned painting, as well.  The desire to please a customer can add a little more tension to the mix.
I also wanted to use Prussian Blue in this painting, a blue that is similar in hue to Cerulean but more transparent. I was not sure how the colors I most frequently use in my palette would mix with this shade of blue since I had not experimented, so, I got out my sketchbook.
Your sketchbook comes in handy as a wonderful tool in this situation.  Great for playing and loosening up. Great for color exploration.  And great for working out hesitations before you get started.  As you can see below in the squares and blended mixtures, I am comparing blues and adding yellow and red to check out the combined colors that result.  All the pigments you see listed are Winsor Newton paints except for DeVinci Permanent Rose.
You can create a reference for color blends and their shades by painting squares on a page that document what happens when you blend two colors in gradual steps.  The example below is an exploration of greens created by a friend of mine.  At each end of the row you will find the pure tube color; in between are the shades created by varying the amount of color added.  The square in the middle represents about equal parts of both colors.  As you move to the left the color becomes more yellow; to the right, the color shade becomes more blue.  This exercise is an excellent way to get acquainted with new colors in your palette and discover the variety of combinations that can be used to create green.  
Below you see another way to make a color study.  When making studies like the one above and below, I recommend using watercolor paper when possible.  Watercolor paper will give you a truer sense of how the colors will look in the actual painting.   
Below you see the Common Yellowthroat in my sketchbook surrounded by the trial of pigments I used in the painting:  Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Aureolin Yellow, Indian Yellow, Sepia (on the bird's face and in the twigs), Permanent Rose, and Winsor Violet.
Now I'm ready to paint!

To see more sketchbook practice visit:  Sketchbook as a map and Yellow Glow Behind the Robin
Watercolor cards for reference
Common Yellowthroat sketch in ink and watercolor
Cornell on Common Yellowthroat

Ocean Trail at Rancho Palos Verdes Preserve, California--2015

Ocean Trail at Rancho Palos Verdes Preserve, California--2015

Joshua Tree National Forest, California, with son Chad and daughter Thuan--2015

Joshua Tree National Forest, California, with son Chad and daughter Thuan--2015
Photo credit: Thuan Tram

Bird banding with Mark Armstrong at Seven Islands State Birding Park - 2014

Bird banding with Mark Armstrong at Seven Islands State Birding Park - 2014
Photo courtesy of Jody Stone

Birds Close-up

Birds Close-up
Photo courtesy of Karen Wilkenson

Enjoying Gray Jays in Churchill, Manitoba

Enjoying Gray Jays in Churchill, Manitoba
Photo courtesy of Blue Sky Expeditions

A dog sled experience with Blue Sky Expeditions, Churchill, MB--2014

A dog sled experience with Blue Sky Expeditions, Churchill, MB--2014
Photo courtesy of Blue Sky Expeditions

Churchill, Manitoba--2014

Churchill, Manitoba--2014
Photo courtesy of Blue Sky

2014 Hummingbird Festival

2014 Hummingbird Festival
Photo courtesy of Jody Stone

Smithsonian National Zoo with one of my Whooping Crane art banners and son, John--2014

Smithsonian National Zoo with one of my Whooping Crane art banners and son, John--2014

Muir Woods on the Dipsea Trail at Stinson Beach, California--2014

Muir Woods on the Dipsea Trail at Stinson Beach, California--2014
Photo courtesy of Wendy Pitts Reeves

Checking out the gulls at Stinson Beach--2014

Checking out the gulls at Stinson Beach--2014
Photo courtesy of Wendy Pitts Reeves

Discovery Hike in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska--2012

Discovery Hike in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska--2012
Photo courtesy of Ruth Carter
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