Sparrow on Fence with Hydrangeas

12x9 watercolor on Canson Montval 140 lb cold press paper/Daniel Smith paints. I worked from a black and white print and made up the lovely hydrangeas below the barbed wire fence he is on.  Background is nothing more than mixing the colors out on my palette into a grey mess, then applying with very wet 1" flat brush.
Copyright Kay Smith 2019.

May Sparrow

5.5x8.5 watercolor on Canson 140 lb CP paper, a backing sheet used behind smaller works that had marks all over, done yesterday.  You can see some of the marks including the vertical line in front of the bird.  The marigolds were grown over the winter as were the red geraniums.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith.

Sweet Sparrow

7x4 watercolor on Canson 140 lb paper previously used underneath larger works to catch drips or run off colors.  Drawn with Micron 01 pen yesterday this sweet sparrow was sitting on the fence outside my studio kitchen window.  He appears to be sitting on a branch that's a blue line.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

White Throated Sparrow

4.25x6 watercolor and ink (Pigma Micron 01 pen) on a magazine insert card done yesterday.  I like the touches of pink in the abstract background and orange/salmon elsewhere.  I used a card in latest issue of The Artist's Magazine.  These small ones are so fun to paint, and the common sparrow varieties seem endless.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Common Chipping Sparrow

8x5.5 watercolor on Strathmore Visual Journal done today.  A pencil drawing was done lightly to mark outlines then watercolor put in over areas wet with #8, #10 round brushes.  A fairly limited palette used of ultramarine and Prussian blues, quinacridones burnt orange and gold, Bice and Periwinkle blues (American Journey).  When dry I used small amounts of white and Coastal Fog (AJ) on the sparrow's breast.  Background is loose and abstract with diagonal lines indicative of branches or twigs; splattering with Blue Bice applied when dry.  This work is part of WetCanvas weekend drawing event timed exercise; photo courtesy AvengingManatee.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Sparrow Secrets

11x15 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper drawn and painted yesterday.  A neutral background wash was applied after the bird was painted wet on dry.  Weeds and grasses were done when bg dried.  Lastly splattering in foreground with two oranges, one transparent pyrrol and the other Halloween orange, an opaque was put on as a finishing touch for this nature scene of a white crowned sparrow.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Sparrow and Hydrangeas

12x9 watercolor on Canson Montval 140 lb cold press paper/Daniel Smith paints.  Ref courtesy Dominika (WetCanvas.com) for this month's Animal & Wildlife forum challenge.  I had him drawn but not any time to paint.  I worked from a black and white print, and made up the lovely hydrangeas below the barbed wire fence he is on.  Background is nothing more than mixing the colors out on my palette into a grey mess, then applying with very wet 1" flat brush.
This painting is copyright 2013 Kay Smith.