A Flamingo Pool

9x6 colored pencils and watercolor pencils on paper, a quick sketch done last week in which water was added to the color and a small amount of watercolor White Nights paints. COPYRIGHT 2022 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.

Flaming Flamingo

22x30 watercolor on light weight Yupo synthetic paper, painted from another lovely bird photographed in my travels.  The slick surface of Yupo lets pigments sit on top as there is no tooth for the paint to sink into, thus they're more vibrant.  Fixative is sprayed to keep the work intact.