May Birding
May is always a very busy month. I seldom get much painting done because we are running off looking for migrant warblers and finding our FOS (First of Spring) birds. It is a great time to try and get photos … Continued
American Tree Sparrow Transparent Watercolor Step-by-Step
I really like the American Tree Sparrow. They are tough little birds who visit our Michigan home in the cold, harsh winters. As Spring finally arrives the smaller Chipping Sparrows replace them. For a very brief time you get the … Continued
Common Ground Dove Pencil Sketch p35
The Common Ground Dove is an easy bird to overlook. Besides being one of the smallest species doves by both size and mass, they are cryptically colored and like to sit motionlessly on the ground. I seem to always come … Continued
Boat-tailed Grackle Pencil Sketch p34
Boat-tailed Grackles shimmer with iridescence. What appears to be jet black fades into beautiful metallic blues, greens and purples. Of course all of that gets lost in a simple pencil sketch! At some point I’ll need to render this in watercolor … Continued
Snowy Day Photos from the Kitchen Window
By the time March rolls around I’m usually ready for the snow to leave. That doesn’t always work out in Michigan. Yesterday we had some beautiful snow. I think many of the early migrants weren’t so happy about the ground … Continued
Tricolor Heron Pencil Sketch p33
The Tricolor Heron is an underrated bird. Maybe it needs a better name. There are Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets, which all sound rather cool. Then you have a mundane name like Tricolor Heron. Of course I … Continued
Wading Snowy Egret Pencil Sketch p32
Snowy egrets are undeniably beautiful birds. Typically when I’ve encountered them they were along the shore or wading in the water hunting for fish. On my last trip to Florida, I saw that they don’t always do the fishing for themselves… … Continued
Lab Chow Mixed Breed Dog Transparent Watercolor and Ink Step-by-Step
This was the hardest painting I’ve done in years. It wasn’t big. It wasn’t complicated. It was brutal. Our dog Archie died out of the blue right before Christmas. I started this painting shortly after he died. I’m a huge … Continued
Crab Spider Transparent Watercolor Step-by-step
This summer I gave myself a goal of getting some good macro photos for drawing and painting reference. Last year I concentrated on dragonflies and damselflies. This time around I was especially interested in spiders. I spent a few days … Continued
Brown Pelican Pencil Sketch p31
I get a huge kick out of pelicans. They certainly look like they were designed by a committee. They have a huge floating boat of a body, topped off by an ungainly, massive head and net-like bill. Somehow they manage … Continued