White Ibises

Ibises are such unusual looking birds, with their long, curved red beaks. I've been on a "birdy" kick lately with my herons and egrets. I decided to add a few more. This was done on 9x12 Art Spectrum paper. I used a reference photo I took this past December in North Carolina, when a large flock of 11 white ibises came in for a landing right alongside the waterfront where I was going for an early morning walk.

The Guitarist #1

Today I was back in the groove a bit, and more my style, with the life class. Last week's painting was torture, so not "me". But it was an experiment, one that was not every successful! Today I returned to my usual technique and felt much better with it, as did Alex, who admitted he had not been too happy with last week's effort, but was glad to see me back in the groove again this week. This was done on 9x12 Canson, cream colored, smooth side.

Great Egret

Another "birdy" picture. When I was in Florida at Christmastime I put my grandson in the stroller and we went for an early morning walk several days. On one of those walks we came upon this great egret, perched in a tree right over our heads. Such an amazing difference from the starlings and pigeons and house sparrows I see around here, LOL. This was done on a 9x12 sheet of art spectrum.

Snowy Egret

I've been feeling rather "birdy" lately and enjoying doing bird paintings. I've had fun doing the blue heron ones I did lately. I think herons and egrets are such beautiful and graceful birds, so I decided to see if I had any good reference photos of other birds I might paint, since I'm always snapping pictures of birds.

So this is one I did of a snowy egret I saw down in the Bird Island Park in Florida's Ponte Vedra Beach this past Christmastime. This was done on 9x12 sheet of art spectrum paper.

Gail on Guitar

We had a new model in life drawing class this week, and we will have the same model, same pose, for 6 weeks in a row! Eeek, that gets old for me, though some students take a full 4-6 weeks to complete one painting. Anyway, since I have to figure out what to do for 6 weeks I decided to start with what I never do - a full-figure painting. I loved her orange Crocs and wanted to get her feet, so that was the only good way to get them in. Now that they are out of the way I can concentrate on other areas in other weeks.

This is done on 9x12 Canson paper, smooth side. I hate doing a full-figure drawing or painting on such a small sheet, but can't really work larger. I have no space to store anything larger and need to downside anyway. As a result I don't really like this one - too fiddly to work so small. But it's all a learning and growing experience. :-)

Year of the Rabbit

We're having nasty weather again! I bet art classes will be cancelled tomorrow, based on the weather reports - which will be the third week in a row. I do miss painting with other people. But I decided I would do something on my own since I'm housebound.

My daughter-in-law's parents invited me to their house Saturday evening to celebrate Chinese New Year. Alas, I can't go, as I'm already committed to my annual choir winter party for that same date. My usual social calendar - nothing for months on end, and then several things for the same date. :-)

Anyway, I understand it's the year of the rabbit this year, so I decided I would paint a rabbit, and ended up with this painting, which is an amalgam of two photos I took last summer at the Morris Canal Park in Clifton, NJ.