Lovebird Paintings - 'For the Birds'

I have done a few paintings over this past year and I wanted to share two. The theme with these two was obviously lovebirds. I created my first painting over the summer last year and I decided to enter it in the educators art show at the Crossroads Art Center.

For the Birds #1, Acrylic on Canvas

It turned out that the painting was sold and the buyers liked it so much they commissioned another piece! They wanted it to be a sister painting to match the first, so I kept the color scheme similar and the same lovebird subjects, but I experimented a lot more with the pose and details in the lovebirds.

 

 

For the Birds # 2, Acrylic on Canvas

I really wanted to play with the pose to create some echoing hearts as hidden characteristics. The first heart I made in the negative space under the beaks. Other hearts can be found too; the beaks form a suggestion of a heart and the bodies of the birds create a heart, as well. It was a fun challenge, having to balance making the hearts readable and keeping the bodies of the lovebirds more realistic.

I took some process photos of the lovebirds to show the steps I took while painting and show a closer look at some details.

Detail #1: Pencil lines and Background

Detail #2: Foot and Branch

Detail #3: Foot and Branch

Detail #4: Eyes and Beaks

Detail #5: Face and Feathers

Detail #6: Feathers in Progress

Detail #7: Close-up of Wings and Tails

Detail #8: Finished Birds Close-Up

Christmas Card Illustrations

Finally time for an update! Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been busy with several new part-time jobs this fall - Teaching Elementary school art classes, paint and sip classes, Art on Wheels, substitute teaching etc. so this fall has been really busy!

Last Christmas, I did a post on Creative Christmas Wrappings I did for my nieces and nephew. This year we did things a little differently for our family members and gave out Christmas cards with gifts inside. To make things more interesting, I decided to make little illustrations on the envelopes for everyone.

Each drawing took about 15-20 minutes. For more complicated ones, I sketched them loosely with pencil and then inked over them. Some were done with pen only. All inking was done in blue pen, I am still partial to how shading looks with pen. I love the contrast!

It was interesting to see how they evolved from envelope to envelope. My 1st few drawings were simpler and my later ones tended to be more detailed. I didn't really notice until I finished them all and looked at them all together. I did make it a point to choose a different subject for each one so they were all unique. Working the drawing around the names on the envelopes was a fun challenge, as well.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy them! I only sealed a small part of the envelope, so they were easy to open, in case they wanted to keep the drawings.

Sliding Penguins

Soaring Reindeer

Peaking Bear

LOL Santa

Snowflake Catcher

Mouse Treat

Rockin' Snowman - Ice Ice Baby

 Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone!