Blackburnian Warbler Transparent Watercolor and Time-lapse Video

My wife’s favorite warbler is probably the Blackburnian, followed closely by the Prothonotary. I did a watercolor of one ages ago on Black Cherry blossoms that she always brings up as a favorite. Until now, I hadn’t painted one in a long time. They are hard to get good photos of because they aren’t abundant; they only visit mid-Michigan for a few weeks of the year; and when you do get a look, they are usually way up high, so you just see that fire-colored throat. I usually find them only after hearing their call first. How something so bright can hide so well is amazing. They are spectacularly beautiful birds.

I got good photo references in Point Pelee National Park in Ontario a year and a half ago and finally got around to working some sketches into a painting. That bird probably spent the night flying over Lake Erie, so it was tired and was refueling low to the ground near the tip of the park that juts into the lake. It was popping around, hunting for insects in the low shrubs and was very cooperative. After five minutes or so, it zipped off into the woods.

Painting Blackburnian Warblers and other birds that have a lot of black can be challenging. I hate tube blacks and avoid using them other than an occasional pupil here and there. In general, I use a lot of purples, blues, dark greens and reds to develop a rich dark that has some personality compared to a tube “Black.” In this case I used a lot of those cool darks to make the warm oranges pop.

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