I've So Many Birds People are Calling me Hitchcock

7x9 watercolor. This painting for sale.

I've been working on these for a while, and it was finally time to finish them.  The top bird is of course a bluebird, and the bottom is, I believe, a house finch.  It seems as though I like to paint fat birds.  I look out the windows and rarely see birds as fat as the ones I paint.  Again, I am experimenting with making the border between the subject and background very dark.  I think on the finch painting it gives it a really interesting effect, though I think i did a better job with the green than the blue.

7x9 watercolor.  This painting currently for sale.

The scariest thing I have done in a long time is paint the pine branches in front of the finch.  I had to channel my inner Bob Ross and pretend that all was going to be ok if I did it.  And I think it turned out ok.  I had to do something to push the bird back into the painting just a little bit, and to paint in front is the best way to do it.  Now, I probably have a bit more confidence to do it again when I need to.

I love the way the background colors ran together in the bluebird painting  and love the way the blue spread out in the finch painting.  I am definitely gonna work harder to get both of those effects in future paintings.

As with all artwork on this site.  It is for sale unless otherwise noted.  Please contact Michael for details.

A Return To Nature

This painting currently for sale.

Today, I present to you two pictures.  The bluebird was a lot of fun to paint.  I am still trying hard to get the layering on this right.  Did a the whole sheet with wet paint, then set it off to dry.  A second layer added color depth to the paining.  The third is only details.  The details on this painting are all the feathers, the eye and feet.  I'm really happy with the way this one turned out.  I especially like his head. The tail maybe will get a bit better in the next go round.

Painting measures 7 x 9











These frogs were fun. When I saw the picture of them, I wasn't sure if I would be able to do them justice. They were I think right eye of the right frog is a little wonky, but the painting was fun to do, and they look funny.  I really even kind of like the reflection on the water.    Painting measures 4 x 9

This painting currently for sale