Feeding Canada Goose Chicks

After a visit to a friend in Oregon, I was inspired to a painting of her feeding the Canada Geese in her back yard, and included her cats and turtle. There's a river with dunes on the other side. A beautiful place.

It took a lot of sketches and thinking before I was ready to paint.

Small Paintings

These are some small paintings, each about 3 by 4 inches. I cut stencils of quail, raven, and heron, which I can reuse for different paintings, and then I improvise the background. They are primarily done using an airbrush, with a few additions. The airbrush gives a nice soft and dreamy look.

                                               

I am hoping to soon move these into my ArtFire studio for sale.

Previously I'd painted some art cards, the official size of which is 2.5 x 3.5 inches, which I find altogether too small for an original painting, though it's fine for a print. So these are a wee bit bigger. The painting is 3 x 4, but each is on a paper 3.5 x 4.5 so there's a 1/4 inch white border around, making them much easier to mat and frame. 

A New Carved Squirrel

old squirrel design

I'd designed a squirrel a long time ago, but decided it was time to make a new shape. This is a Douglas Squirrel. The 2 photos with the forest background show the new design.

Painting: Five Animals Hidden at Echo Lake

I mostly painted this 5 x 7 landscape with an airbrush on multimedia artboard, but also used art markers and colored pencil. In this painting of Echo Lake, you'll find a circle of 5 animals.

Echo Lake Hidden Animals Painting

My latest painting, Echo Lake in the Trinity Alps of northern Califoria. I <think> it is finished. Size: 9 x 12 inches.

Painted Backgrounds

My latest painting venture is to paint backgrounds for my carving photographs. It's an interesting problem, since product photos have to show off the item, while the background is, well, in the background. So the paintings have to be fairly light, and not too detailed. It's been fun! I do need to paint more habitats.

Here are 3 examples of different painted backdrops, and a Blackpoll Warbler in the forest habitat.

Hidden in the Dunes Multimedia Painting

I've finished this painting now. Well I think I have anyway. It might be fun to compare this with the previous post of the same artwork at an earlier stage. It's no longer an airbrush painting, but has to be called multimedia with the addition of marking pens and colored pencil. What fun this was!

Airbrush Painting: Hidden in the Dunes

Mad River Dunes

I may do a few more details on this, but it's mostly finished. It's inspired by the dunes where the Mad River used to run; the river changes constantly and has abandoned it's old path for a new route to the ocean, leaving behind dunes and wetlands, with a bluff above. It's a great spot for wildlife. This painting was done mostly with airbrush, also using archival markers. It's 8 by 10 inches, on multimedia artboard.

Hidden Caribou Airbrush Painting

This painting took a lot of time to design. It's based on several photos I took in Alaska. We were always looking for caribou in the landscape. In this painting there are 5 caribou, and a ptarmigan. Can you find them all?

Hidden Ptarmigan Airbrush Painting

When I was in Alaska, I almost stepped on a willow ptarmigan sitting on her nest. Two people ahead of me stepped right over her without seeing the bird. But my foot was coming down too close, so she fluttered up and away only a few yards, then trusted to her cryptic coloration to keep her hidden.

Using the photos I took then, I did this painting using the airbrush. It's 5 by 7 inches.

Heron ACEO and a Raven too

 I sold the other Raven ACEO (2.5 by 3.5 inch card) so made another. I put some hills in the background of this one. And the lively Heron just can't decide which of the many fish to have for lunch.


Raven and Heron cards are at ArtFire though they might not be these exact ones. 

Raven and Dodo ACEOs

I've added two original little art card paintings 2.5 by 3.5 inches to my ArtFire studio, one of a RAVEN, and the other a DODO. Though I will make more of these approximate designs, each one is painted individually and so will be a bit different. It will be fun to see how they develop. I hope to have a lot more designs eventually.

What animals would you like to see?

Curious Fawn Art Card

Curious Fawn

I've just added another art card to my Artfire Studio, Curious Fawn. This one is also from an airbrush painting. Previous cards were printed on photo paper, this one is printed on an art paper with the look and feel of fine watercolor paper. It has no sheen at all so it looks more like the original painting.

It's a card size known as ACEO (art card editions and originals) sized 3.5 by 2.5 inches: a miniature work of art to collect, include with a greeting card, or frame.

Overlapping Fawns Airbrush Painting

Another airbrush painting, this one is about 5 x 7. There is still a lot to learn about painting a scene like this with the airbrush. It was interesting to overlap the fawns. Is it one fawn at two different times? A friend said it reminded her of the way deer will be eating, then hear something and suddenly look up. What do you think?

I overworked this a little too much, and am thinking of trying it again.

In my Artfire studio I don't have any fawns, but do have Buck Deer Wood Carving and Doe deer wood carvings.

Airbrush Art, another painting

I tried another airbrush painting today. This is 4" x 6".

I've searched for other artists using airbrush for fine art, but most of what I can find are more commercial applications. The subjects seem to be cars and machinery as well as fantasy and science fiction. Not a bit of nature to be found. If any of my readers know of any such airbrush art, I'd really like to know about it.

Painting a Peacock

I just finished this Peacock carving. The next time I do one of these I should make a sequence showing how it is painted, but I get so into the job, that the thought never enters my mind. There are lots of steps to get all the colors in!

• I paint the dark green around all the eyes, using a bit of plastic cut to the shape to block the airbrush spray from them. Also use various shaped plastic to block spray from the wings.
• The light blue shape is sprayed through a hole cut in the plastic sheet, and the dark blue is drawn on with a marker.
• Yellow sprayed around the outside, orange inside that. 
• A bit of purple spray softens the sharp line.
• Gel markers suggest the vein and add a bit of sparkle.

You can find a carved peacock at Artfire (more photos are there also)and one will soon be added to my Etsy shop as well.