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

Halloween Pumkin Carvings

Here are my pumpkin carvings for this year. The patterns were found in Pumpkin Masters pumpkin carving books and on various websites like zombiepumpkins.com. I just wanted to challenge myself a little and have some fun. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Totem Pole - Lit

Pumpkin Totem Pole - Unlit

If you are looking for a different way to display your carvings, the pumpkin totem pole is a fun way. These are artificial pumpkins stacked with a dowel rod attached to a base in the center for support. I use leaf garland to cover the spaces between pumpkins and to add some more decoration. The nice part about the artificial pumpkins is that I can reuse them again next year!

Cheshire Cat - with color changing light

I found these great color changing LED lights for pumpkins at the craft store. They add a lot of fun to the carvings!

Cheshire Cat - with color changing light

Scooby-Doo - with color changing light

Scooby probably turned out as one of the best. He was my favorite cartoon character when I was a kid, this is a little nod to him.

Scooby-Doo - with color changing light

Lion - with color changing light

This was originally a tattoo design that I found online at tattooique.com under tribal tattoos. I altered a little to make it suitable for pumpkin carving. Very intricate and challenging!

Lion - with color changing light

Hope you enjoyed them! Happy Halloween!