I’m not much for imaginative names for paintings. I tend to go for the obvious. Most often I only have one species in a painting, which helps simplify things. This painting ended up having two species, which would’ve made the … Continued
Song Sparrows sure seem to be friendly little birds. Their cheery “Madge-Madge-Madge, put-on-your-tea-kettle-ettle-ettle” call is always a welcome sound. We get them in our yard frequently, but in really low numbers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than one at a time. We’ve … Continued
I’m still behind on posting and have been uploading things out of order chronologically. For example, I finished this watercolor before Christmas. (!) I was looking through photos from last year’s trip to Florida and decided to do a watercolor … Continued
Orange-crowned Warblers are often described as drab. While they aren’t as flashy as a Hooded or Kentucky Warbler, they really are quite beautiful. It took me a long time to confidently identify them because they have so many subtle features. The past … Continued
What is cuter than a Chickadee? Chickadees are incredibly common, and I’ve sketched them dozens of times, but I’ve only painted them once. Their high-contrast coloration makes them a little trickier for watercolor. For the same reason it’s hard to get a good … Continued
There is no way around it: this painting took an incredibly LONG time! This 18×24-inch transparent watercolor features 25 birds found in Everglades National Park. I hatched the idea for this after our family trip to the Everglades last winter. As is typical … Continued
With a lull in my work schedule, I devoted some time to creating Coronavirus illustrations. The top image shows coronaviruses in the alveolus of the lung. The bottom image illustrates a single subunit of the newly discovered main protease of the COVID-19 … Continued
After a large, complicated, time-consuming botanical painting, I wanted something, small, fast and simple to work on. I sorted through a stack of doodles and composited a few into this coral reef scene. After the rigid realism of the last watercolor, it was … Continued
I haven’t done a purely botanical painting in ages. I think the last one I did was of Fringed Polygala back in 1999! I’m always painting plants as backgrounds for insects and birds, so they aren’t foreign; they just haven’t been … Continued
This flamingo painting is based on photos I took at the fantastic Toledo Zoo. I’ve been going there for more than 20 years. My second trip there was probably the most memorable. I was living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the time … Continued