Crimson Cardinal

11x11 mixed media on cardboard begun yesterday and finished today. First I sketched the cardinal with Micron 03 pen, then used watercolor and gouache along with colored markers. This will be sprayed with a protectant varnish. The first was an owl I did over the weekend so will post it tomorrow. COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Quiet Cardinal 1

6x8.5 watercolor and ink (Uniball elite pen) on pink tinted Color-Sketch paper drawn yesterday and painted today.  Sketchbook Skool sent an email with instructions to play.  You select an object and first draw it without looking at your paper.  I used a photo of one of our backyard male cardinals.  I got his back too high where it hits his crown and right foot is unattached to his body.  Background is made up abstract forms and colors.  We were asked to post our results on social media afterwards.  Second bird will be done almost identically but you're allowed three quick glances.  Third bird gets five quick glances.  Fourth bird you can have ten quick glances and are given two more minutes on details (that one is on blue tinted paper as I ran out of pink).  A fun exercise! I'm pretty sure my favorite will be this one as it was sketched so much looser.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Crows and Cardinal in Snow

11x15 watercolor commission of a murder of crows and one lone male cardinal.  This work is SOLD.

Crows and Cardinal in Snow WIP

These series of steps taken today outline a work in progress or WIP, beginning with thumbnail sketches in colored pencils.  This scene is a commission and has been SOLD.

Each of these is about 3x4 inches to just get a feel for the subject.  My client saw a similar scene of black crows with one red male cardinal years ago, and wanted the vivid imagery translated by an artist to keep the memory alive.  So I hope I can do it justice.  I will be using watercolors on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper.  Paints are:  Quinacridone burnt orange, shadow violet, ultramarine blue, midnight blue, quin magenta, gamboge, Grumbacher true red, permanent red, and alizarin crimson.  All black is mixed with these colors.

First step was to draw an odd number of crows and place them in the middle ground, as the cardinal will be in foreground, lower right, and he'll be the automatic center of interest due to his bright plumage.  Crows are a mix of first 5 pigments listed above; small areas of the birds were wet then color applied one hue next to the other and let blend.  You can see an old white fence in the back as a high horizon line.

Next step is a pale wash of UB and QBO, I painted the areas between white pickets and splashed more in foreground; cardinal will be almost last.  Fence texture will be done with drybrush.

Step 3 is the addition of the cardinal and in this detail you can see weathered back fence and inbetween.  I've added small dark seeds as they are foraging in winter and are quite hungry.  The cardinal doesn't have any seeds to eat and is venturing towards the big guys hoping to peck out a few morsels.

Final step! Quite tricky making sure the crows were larger than the cardinal and a different stance on each one.  Slight snow shadows added to ground the birds, and when dry, I splattered a dark mix of paint for tiny seeds.  I hope this reads right and that the customer is pleased, as this one was a joy to plan and paint.  Crows and Cardinal in Snow 11x15 watercolor, copyright Kay Smith 2013.

Christmas Balls, Birds, and Branches

9.5 x 18 inches watercolor of glass balls and birds, real branches, and snowy forest background.  I painted this last December and really liked the horizontal format and the holiday feel to the decorations.

Wintertime Still Life with Cardinal

15x11 watercolor still life of an old ice skate boot with holiday greenery and a cute cardinal perched on its toe. If you can find these used skates they make great decorations; some spray paint them and place floral arrangements in the top part.

A Christmas Card a Day

9 3/4 x 7 inches watercolor, drawn with watersoluble pencil, using a tiny artificial red feathered cardinal I found in the craft section as a model. Christmas Cardinal is happily skipping along on this Black Friday anticipating the good sales and bargains. A card a day is a project challenge Stephie has set for us from now till 25 December, and I've only done two so far of the kitten and bird. They can be any size but must be watercolor of any subject suitable for holiday cards.

Branching Out

15x11 quarter sheet watercolor on Italia Acquerello 140 lb cold press paper, drawn in 10 minutes, 1.5 hours painting, wet on dry. I added kosher salt to background colors, encouraged backruns, and did some negative painting of branches. American Journey paints, direct painting style, usually with only 1 application. Spattered titanium white when dry for snow effects. Thanks to Alain for the photo reference!