This small watercolour on Yupo was inspired by our stay at Nanoose Bay, Inn at the Estuary. If you want to feast your eyes on nature from your own private room or in your own outdoor bathtub, this is the place.
Yupo is fun to work with. Fun, frustrating and tricky. I do like the extreme chaos the the watercolour on plastic and yet trying to control the wet flow around the details of claws, eye and beak had me grinding my teeth. One should not have to wear a mouth guard to paint on Yupo.
“Due to ongoing logging of old-growth forests scientists estimate that less than six owls now remain in the wild in Canada. Currently biologists have been able to locate only three adult spotted owls, including a breeding pair residing in the unceded territory of the Nlaka'pamux community of Spô’zêm (Spuzzum) First Nation, located in the Fraser Canyon area near Hope BC. On February 25, 2021 he BC government announced a one year deferral of logging in Spô’zêm Nation territory - home to Canada's last surviving breeding pair of spotted owls in the wild. The historic population of spotted owls is estimated to have been 500 pairs.”
The Marbled Murrelet was once known as the "Australian Bumble Bee" by fishermen and as the "fogbird" or "fog lark" by loggers and fishermen. These nicknames reflect the bird’s foggy coastal habitat, its frequent calling even at sea, and plump shape and whirring wings in flight.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Marbled_Murrelet/overview
I know I will probably never see a Marbled Murrelet, but it is nice to know they are out there, for now. Logging old growth forests and Murrelet reproduction don’t mix as they need old growth trees ( over 200 years old) in which to reproduce.
Marbled Murrelet - non-breeding plummage
Marbled Murrelet - breeding plummage
Decisions being made in the old growth;
To log or not to log.
An insane question.
Can’t uncut those trees.
This is not a poem.
Apparently it is acceptable to log AROUND the nesting owls…
Maybe we need to read “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss once more.
This is a combination of three tutorial exercises: painting the bird, learning to paint berries and learning to paint the leaves. I sketched the three exercises onto watercolour paper and gave it a whirl bouncing between two online teachers.
Visit Paul Hopkinson at the www.devonartist.co.uk and also Billy Showell at www.billyshowell.com.
Kinglet. Watercolour
I’m pretty pleased with this watercolour. It is officially one of my own and not done with any tutorial help. It is a looser style, which is actually more my style, as made visible by my oil paintings. Any road, this local Belted Kingfisher (actually a pair) live down by the shoreline and can be seen almost any day of the year. The rusty belt marking shows it is the female as the male has no rust colouring. I noticed part way through the painting process that the rusty belt should be lower on the body, not up like a necklace. Too late… once you have started a watercolour you are a bit committed. Never-mind, all good practice.
A watercolour robin for practicing tiny feather strokes. One of my favourite birds, so it was very enjoyable.
Thanks to Paul Hopkinson for his thorough tutorial: www.devonartist.co.uk
Usually snow and most mushrooms don’t mix well together, but in this case, it reminds me of a frosty early winter day.
