This watercolor of a rooster was made without making an underlying drawing first. Using a photograph as my source, I sketched in the shapes with yellow watercolor and went from there, painting the shapes, building up values and punching up to brighter colors. My teacher and fellow students told me to stop painting at this point. So here it is. I would have gone on fiddling with the details and probably would have ruined the rooster, lost the freshness, and muddied the colors if I had done this at home alone.

Rooster, watercolor

Next, I painted a red bird, also from one of my teacher’s wildlife photographs. Red Bird quickly became Drippy Sad Bird, so I stopped painting. He has a nice droopy affect that is kind of comical, so I like him even though this is a bit of a technical #fail.

Sad Bird, watercolor

After class, I brought home the source photographs and continued working. The image below shows the process from top left to the final bird on the bottom right. I made a sketch first with yellow ochre watercolor pencil. Next, I might make another painting of this bird or, more likely, for my sanity, I will try painting another bird for a change. Clearly, capturing shapes and values with watercolor is very challenging, as advertised. The hardest part for me is just to sit down and make art and be willing to fail, over and over, with the occasional successful Rooster popping up under my paint brush in a happy accident.

Red Bird, watercolor