Work in Progress - Stormy Sea with ?something

This is the start of a new painting I'm doing for myself. It is larger than what I usually do. 20" x 16". I want a sunset, but storm forming overhead. Here I have put the basic elements in, but will have to add lightning etc later.

Work started on the water. I have to add waves etc, but wanted to figure out the "lay of the land" sort of speak. In Saskatchewan we have very dramatic sunsets. I want this painting to be very bold to, so have chosen bright bold colours for the evening sky.

The next stage after the water will be painting the shore line and adding a "mystery object" that I will reveal later. Please check back to see the progress.

New work in progress - Chickadees

Of all the birds that come to my yard, my chickadees are my favourite. They are fearless no matter the size of the competition. So I figured it's time to paint them. First I started with rather a plain background. Greens and just a little rose colour.

Because I wanted the chickadees to be uniform in size (like they are in real life) I drew them first on paper and then transferred them with graphite paper.

I don't know why I always paint the birds first, but I like painting them first and then branches, trunks, leaves whatever later. It helps me to balance what I am seeing on the painting. These chickadees are pretty basic at this point.

Now to start filling in some details. The yellow on their breasts. Give them some eyes, paint the branch and give it some moss. Next I will do the blossoms and some detail to the feathers. Must remember to give the poor things some feet!

Bluejays - Finished

I finished the bluejays this afternoon. I learned the hard way that you can keep tweaking the painting forever and ruin it in the process. (when are we ever satisfied with out art work) so today I decided that it was done. I had fixed the pines and added the snowflakes etc so I decided to quit while I was ahead. Enjoy!