Bird Dreams

9x12 watercolor, gouache, and India ink on Canson 140 lb paper completed yesterday.  It was a vertical loose and splashy sunflower, brush only that I painted Monday, being in the mood for sloshing pigment on paper that did not turn out.  So yesterday I began by lightly drawing in black India ink the shape of a bird.  Doing many bird paintings has triggered venturing off on an abstract tangent such as this, with vivid reds hitting electric blues.  Lollipop shaped flower petals were carved out negatively using gouache.  Light washes of white gouache were overlaid on much of the background.  The large dark irregular circle to the left of the bird is what's left of the sunflower center.  All in all it was total fun seeing what might pop up to be developed.  A tiny golden tree is to the bird's right, below his beak.  Feather and leaf shapes can be seen throughout.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.