Category — Birds

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.

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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. [Read more →]

7" x 5" | Pencil on Paper

I only had two goals yesterday. First was to take some photos of butterflies and second was to do some pencil drawing; both were completed.
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When I visited the Duke Garden’s last week on a spring flowers photo expedition I ended up snapping a few of some ducks too. There are always a lot of friendly ducks at the gardens, they get fed a lot.

Duke Garden's Duck | 7" x 5" | Oil on Linen Panel

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Yesterday was my birthday. I took the day off from work to read Discover magazine and paint. It’s funny that I’ve never painted a cardinal before considering how much I like them. This guy is peeking into the picture to say “hi”. This will not be my last cardinal I’m sure.

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Took a visit to New Orleans last week. Spent most of my time in the French Quarter, but also visited the Audubon Park and Audubon Zoo.

My only regret on this trip is that I noticed that there was an “endangered amphibians” exhibit at the zoo right before it closed which I wish I had seen. I love painting frogs. Ah well…there is plenty of other great reference photos for painting from this trip…including a couple neat frogs who lived in the reptile exhibit.

In the Quarter

Street Musicians

I visited Washington DC in April with my dad because his old college hockey team was playing in the Frozen Four. While I was there, I snapped a lot of photos, many of the resident birds, which everybody made fun of me for. Most people come back from DC with photos of buildings (boring) and I come back with 2/3 photos of: sparrows, starlings, ducks, gulls, and of course pigeons.

Final Painting: "Unseen Beauty"

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I had thought this painting was finished a couple months ago, but I added to it again a couple days ago. Originally, the background was quite a bit lighter with more blue and green in it. I took this into my painting class and it is a good example of how the useful feedback enhances my mostly finished work. The instructor suggested I glaze the entire background with a darker color but leave some highlights above the bird. This way, there is a nice contrast because the bird is dark on top and light on the bottom, so the background looks nice being dark on the bottom and light on top. I totally agreed with him and am pleased with how it has turned out after the new enhancement. [Read more →]