Several artists who have YouTube channels have been helpful to me in learning further how to watercolor. Pen and Ink has been my medium of choice through my artist life but the pull of color has been coming along for a few years now. I recently found Louise De Masi a watercolor artist from Australia whose tutorials are a lot of fun and very helpful. This is one of my recent paintings combining watercolor and pen & ink.
American Flamingo field notes
Here’s the second in my series of field studies, the American Flamingo, found in the Florida Keys and Caribbean.
Prints available on Etsy
Field Studies and Scientific Illustrations
There are a number of names out there for the illustration of the natural world around us such as, field studies, scientific illustrations, field sketchbook, botanical bird illustrations, natural studies and field notes. Each of these have different goals and specifics from capturing the beauty of the animal and plant kingdoms to including the many phases of the life cycle. One important aspect of all of these is being a keen observer of detail and making sure your work is correct. With the internet we have so much information at our fingertips to check and increase our knowledge of just about anything we observe in nature. I have recently started a series of field studies where I will use my pen & ink with watercolor and pencil sketching. Here is the first of this series, the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Notice the hummingbird nest in the upper left corner of this photo. I watched a hummingbird build this nest right outside my window in an Arizona bougainvillea bush. As we lived beside a cotton field you can see the nest is made of cotton. Sadly, a heavy rainstorm ruined the bird’s plans to lay eggs and raise young but it was still a magical experience watching the nest building process.
Giclee prints available in my shop-