kindred spirit

 

SOLD  $90 - 5x7" original oil painting on 1/8"panel.

Well, the bird painting series continues! I think I'm on number 12 and 8 of them have flown off to new homes. I'm especially happy with this little yellow-breasted blue titmouse. He's got his own little branch and he seems quite content. You can check out the time-lapse painting of him over on my Instagram account here - https://www.instagram.com/noramacphailart/ . Cheers. : )

oil and watercolour bird

 

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"turquoise wonder " - $90 - 6x6" oil painting

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"lighthearted" - $80 - 5x7"watercolour with 8x10"mat

I painted "turquoise wonder" in oil a few days ago. I'm so happy with all the luscious blues and purples. I wondered what the little cutie-patootie would look like in watercolour so... the next day I painted "lighthearted. I love both oil and watercolour since they both offer such different unique qualities. Two qualities of watercolour are transparency and splatter! I took advantage of both. And one of the great qualities of oil is strong confident brushstrokes, which I hope I achieved. 

Cheers and thanks for stopping by!

dynamic duo

 

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$90 - 5x7" original oil painting on 1/8" panel

I love the glow of light behind these adorable Kingfishers, it shows off their distinctive crowns. The bigger one is peeking around the smaller one. #socute

Details - 

curvy shadow

 

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$90 - 6x6" original oil painting on 1/8" panel

This little garlic clove is casting a cute curvy shadow. 😉 I tried to get overhead and close up for an interesting composition for this piece. Also, I love it when the shadows fall onto two different coloured surfaces. So fun to paint and 'match up'.  I really wanted to paint from life today because it's a good colour reminder and it really helps when I go back to photos for reference.

dashing

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$90 - 6x6" original oil painting on 1/8" panel

I chose to paint this dashing beauty because of his bold look. His orange beak and blue body are perfect complimentary colours. He just seems to confident! And I think my bird paintings are getting more confident too. ; )

Here's a detail of him. I happily left a bit of the original pink panel colour to pop through. Cheers.

lilac roller

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$90 - 6x6" original oil painting on 1/8" panel

This colourful beauty can be found amongst the trees in Africa. One of the most colourful birds known to us, the lilac-breasted roller. So fun to paint! And I kept the brach flowers loosey-goosey so he stayed the star of the show.

Birds Birds Birds!

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"little wonder" - $90 - 6x6" original oil painting on 1/8"panel.
Hummingbird

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"from dawn to dusk" - $90 - 6x6" original oil painting on 1/8"panel.

Yellow-Breasted Blue Tit

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"longevity" - $90 - 6x6" original oil painting on 1/8"panel.

Red-Breasted Grosbeak

Well, the long weekend came and went... that was fast! #doh  

I'm just catching up on my three latest bird paintings. I'm super happy with them. I really tried to make clean and colourful 'one-brush-mark' marks. 

You can see the videos of me painting them over on my Instagram page. (can't get blogger to upload them here...?)

Cheers Y'all. (email me if you're interested in a set of 3). ; )

opposites attract

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$90 - 8x8" original oil painting on 1/8"panel

I totally get now why people put spoons in their still life set ups! This reference pic is curiosity Sarah Sedwick, and she uses spoons a lot, just like Carol! So, they're super fun to paint because of the lights and darks and, more importantly, they create negative shapes by dividing up the round plate shape. Cool.

p.s.

I added a few bits of pink here and there. I couldn't help myself. 

; )

on the look out

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$90 - 6x6" original oil painting on 1/8" board

These lemons are working together, with an eye in each direction in case, you know, there's trouble. ; )

Here's the black and white 5 value study that we did in the awesome Sarah Sedwick Online Oil Level 2 Class on Saturday.

It was really helpful to do this! I often do a value sketch with pencil or charcoal first however, doing it in oil first really made a difference. 

Here's my set up, very similar to my iPad view during the Zoom class, so Sarah could see. There were about 18 of us and Sarah shared her screen, so she had her demo and her palette showing. It was really an excellent workshop. Very informative.

And here I am, sneaking into the photo. Cameras love to make one of my eyes wonky. #shrug

Cheers Y'all and Be Well. 

Cinnamon Take the Lead!

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$100 - 8x10" watercolour painting

Watercolour offers everything I need to show the movement (and the splatter!) of horse racing. I love letting the paint blend together, especially from one horse to the next, just as they do at the races. And the jockey's clothes (silks) offer lots of colour choices. Check out the original drawing below.

tennis anyone?

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$80 - 5x7"painting includes 8x10"mat

Dogs are so awesome! This German Shepherd has lots of warm and cool colours in his fur - so fun to paint in watercolour. And the title... was a no-brainer. ; )

Sunday Selection

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$80 - 8x10" original watercolour painting 

Loosey-goosey was at the top of my list of things to accomplish with this colourful still life. I love the splish-splash of watercolour, something oil just doesn't offer. 

Having painted in oil for a while now, I realize how difficult making grey is with watercolour. I think it might be easier with oil. Not easy (!), but  easier. : )

Collie (a.k.a cutie-patootie)

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$80 - 5x7" original watercolour with 8x10"mat. Ready for an 8x10" frame. You may have one already! ; )

Some days, ya just gotta paint a Border Collie. 

with a spring in your step

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$80 - 5x7" original watercolour painting includes 8x10"mat

Well, I decided to work with watercolour again, and see where it takes me. I have missed it so much. I always feel that way when I brush off my watercolour palette. The thing is, watercolour is about drawing. And, although I have tried, I can't seem to make oil painting about drawing. It's about painting, and shape. So, since I loooove drawing so much, I decided to jazz up this piece. A good place to start. Super happy with these colourful friends.
See pics for close ups and painting in mat. 

drinking buds

SOLD

$100 - 8x8" original oil painting on professional 1/8" panel

Well, painting pop cans is now at the top of my list of cool things to paint! I painted them years ago, in watercolour, and I crushed them. That may happen again...

in thought

9x12" oil painting on the back of a sketchbook cover. ; )

Today's Two-Colour Portrait was done with Light Magenta and Burnt Umber. I chose a warm and cool colour, thinking the pink was the warm, (since it's in the red category) only to quickly realize the brown is the warmer of the two. #doh I mean, burnt umber is orange right...?! 

I gessoed the board with a white and black gesso mix in order to see my values. 

Next is another picture of the whole piece, (on a black background so you can see it) I love the perforations and I let the orange and yellow, from the original board, show up. (I sanded the gesso off the edges to bring that colour back). I added a little brush mark of my original palette, the two-colours... and white of course, to the bottom right hand corner. ; )

Here's my preliminary sketch in charcoal, also 9x12".

  

And here's my palette. I don't usually mix colours first, but for these two-colour portraits I do, so that I can really get a handle on the three values I'm using.

I take a black and white pic of my palette, before I start painting, to see if the values are right. See how the light values match each other, and the mid values match each other, as well as the grey paper palette I use. 

By the end of it, my three value painting is really five values. I bring in a few mid-lights and mid-darks. I try to keep it to three, since three value paintings are nice and clean, and easy to 'read' from across the room. But sometimes, for portrait structure, a few more values are necessary.

Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate your time. Take care ya'll. : )