Menagerie of Creativity » Birds

Barred Owl

Alicia — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:48:34 +0000

This is 5″x7″ watercolor and ink on paper. I’ve seen a couple Barred Owls in the woods around here, plus the wildlife center has one and they are amazing birds close up.

Close up

Carolina Wren

Alicia — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:11:40 +0000

This is 7″x5″ watercolor and ink on paper.

Close up

Bird Bath

Alicia — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:05:27 +0000

Birds like bubble baths.

This is 7″x5″ watercolor and ink. I may look at this again in a couple days and add some very minor finishing touches. I can’t look at it any more today though.

Chickadee on a Crooked Wine Glass

Alicia — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:12:40 +0000

This is a 5×7″ watercolor, ink and colored pencil painting.

Here are a couple close ups.

Cellmates

Alicia — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:08:55 +0000

About two years ago I promised someone I would paint them some chickens. I finally got around to it.

Here is a close up of the chickens.

Sandpiper

Alicia — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:38:58 +0000

This sandpiper was inspired by my trip to the beach earlier this week.

Bird on a Sunflower

Alicia — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:45:06 +0000

Owl Genie Bookmark

Alicia — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:33:34 +0000

I illustrated this book mark a month or two ago and finally got around to printing it. I generally have lots of books in process at a time, so I wanted a lot of bookmarks for them, without spending a lot of money. I also have been trying to do some short fun projects to improve my digital illustration. The owl genie was originally supposed to be a set of two or three types of owls, but because I’m so busy, that will have to come later. I have also been thinking about doing some bug or fish bookmarks.

To get started, I looked at some photos of barn owls and sketched this quick drawing. You’ll notice the eyes are quite different. At first I thought the owl was going to have a wise expression.

Then I scanned the sketch and got the first shapes worked out.

Next, I colored the owl.

Then I realized that the expression of the owl wasn’t very engaging, so I changed the eyes. I also didn’t like that the wings lined up, so I made one longer so it came out of the owl shape. Also, the curve of the wings and the curve of the body in the one above looked funny, so I fixed that too and it was much better.

I went through the same process with the lamp and swirling grey line which is the smoke. They have the same outline as the original drawing, but it took me a while to work out how to place the colors in the lamp.

Since I finished this, I have started working on a turtle who is sort of a bandit and has flowers surrounding it. That won’t be a bookmark, but I do want to do some more of them.

I printed one hundred bookmarks and am giving a lot of them away. Let me know if you want one or two and I will send it. If you are family or a friend, just drop me an email. If you someone I don’t know, leave a comment here and I’ll have you send me a self addressed and stamped envelope.

Another Day at the Duke Gardens

Alicia — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:24:30 +0000

I went to the Duke Gardens with my camera over memorial day weekend. I didn’t stay long because I had already gone for a long walk and the sun was intense. But, it was still a productive trip, I learned that herons are not very photogenic. The below photo is the best one I got.

Bird from the Audobon Zoo

Alicia — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 22:50:25 +0000

I saw this bird at the Audobon Zoo over a year ago. I have no idea what kind of bird it is, but it is a cute one. I started this a long time ago and just put some finishing touches on it. I think the colors in the photo are a little darker than real life, but it’s not too far off.

This is my first post here since January, unfortunately I am really too busy to paint regularly these days. Plus, it’s sort of hard to leave paintings to sit for a long time and come back to them. Partly I haven’t done much painting because I took about 14 weeks of pottery classes in a row. Partly I just have too much work and other priorities at the moment. In any case, I want to try and spend more time drawing for a while if I can squeeze it in. It might work better than oil painting while I’m very busy since the cleanup time is less. I think pottery is great for the dark winter days, so I might come back to that in November.

Hopefully I will have time and remember to post the things I made in my second pottery class soon too. As one would expect, overall they turned out better than the first class.

I am also trying to find time for a few digital illustrations. Right now I am planning three owl bookmarks which I will post here if I finish them. I have one about half done. If I get them done, I will print a whole bunch and give them away.

I always want to do about twice as much as I have time for. It is sort of a challenge to find balance.