Birds , birds, and more birds

My favourite subject to paint recently has been garden birds, I don't know why , but I think if you really want to paint something then go for it. 

I have loved painting birds for a while now, but this week they have been the perfect subject , maybe they just fit in the limited time I have while the children are on their Easter holidays. 

Painting is something that has to fit my mood, and there is something about these tiny creatures that fascinates me .Plus you can  see them everyday.,so you can constantly re-evaluate your paintings and see if you've captured your subject...or not.

So these paintings are not commissions, they are just what I want to paint. First up I started with an old favourite, the blue tit

I want to get the eye looking good , then I drop my paint onto wet paper to create the feathery edges, I want the essence of each bird. The character of the different species

Next are birds I have returned to again and again, robins hold a special place in my heart, it was the robin that was the first bird I painted.

I know they are special to many of you too, they brighten up the coldest winter days . I like to get real graduation in their red breasts. I start with yellow ochre and add cadmium orange and burnt sienna. There is also cerluean blue in the brown feathers , as with every animal the more you look the more you see.

Then on a trip to the post office, while parking the car there was a little sparrow right in front of me on a branch, I have come to spot more birds the more I paint them, and this little chap was singing his heart out

I am constantly trying to improve what I do, and I am inspired by other artists work too . I love the birds that Karl Martens paints, he really does capture the essence of the bird with very few brush strokes . I think if you paint then you love to see what other artists are doing , and you take bits of what they do and add them to your own.  And so I finally had another go at my very favourite bird ( of the moment) the wren . I see them hopping about in the hedgerows , and I always feel blessed when I do