White Pelican

11x15 watercolor of a white pelican recently painted and featured on WetCanvas.  The background was a real challenge due to all the grasses.  Some areas were negatively painted but overall dark values set off the lightest lights of the bird's feathers.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Flamingo in the Grass

Now no one loves to paint these colorful tropical birds more than I do. It is a thrill when visiting Las Vegas to go by the Flamingo Hilton to the back of the hotel and watch them for hours around their koi pond, preening themselves as if performing in one of the stage shows. This painting is mixed media (colored pencil, watercolor, acrylics) on 8x11 gessoed matboard. It was a timed exercise that took 5 minutes to draw and 55 to paint. Blades of grass were scratched out in semi-dry paint using bevel end of my 1" sable flat brush.
Image is COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2010.

Birds of a Feather - Cockatoos

22x15 watercolor of three yellow crested cockatoos amongst vivid orchid-looking tropical flowers, an imaginary scene.  I love to paint white birds and each endeavor is a challenge to sneak enough color into their wings to have proper value scale.  This one was done a few years ago wet in wet on 140 lb cold press paper.  I've used some negative painting shapes here and there.
Image is COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2010.