Thursday 22 September 2011

Wintry Day - the year of painting.

Good morning all.

Over on Painting Friends we've recently done another in our year of painting set.
Each month we have a photo reference set for us and we interpret it in our own fashion.

This month was a lady cardinal, a bird not native to the UK.  I was a trifle concerned how I would cope with painting something others were very familiar with and me not at all !

The original photo had the bird sitting on a branch and lots of other branches and the tree trunk visible. I decided to remove all of those and just paint the bird with one snowy branch and a very wintry background.

I hope you enjoy the painting and if you have any questions on how I did it, fire away! I will do my best to answer :)

Wintry Day


This and all my other paintings are together on my permanent gallery site HERE   Do go over and have a browse - and enjoy :)

28 comments:

  1. Hi Pat, your Cardinal looks very nice indeed and the background is simply fantastic. First class watercolor! Ciao!

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  2. Great painting, Pat! I am in awe of this fabulous background! It looks very icy and cold.
    BTW, I am going to join Painting Friends!

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  3. Thank you Tito. What a great compliment from you, a maestro of the art! xx

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  4. Thanks, Judy, glad you like the background. I had originally intended to add snow, but loved it as was - so no flecks!

    Thrilled you'll be joining, look forward to seeing you there! :) :) xx

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  5. Lovely painting Pat. Your background shows a lot of depth, did you use some cling film to get the effect?.. anyway, great job.

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  6. thanks Ann.

    Yes, I did use cling film - very wet washes, a few pieces of cling film stretched vertically and some heavy books to weight it down and get those lovely deep impressions :)

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  7. Hi Pat The painting is wonderful. With the background the bird comes to a wonderful validity
    Elsbeth

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  8. Pat, really nice painting, it looks cold , something we're not used to here in Florida, but the cardinal we have a lot of them.. Beautifully done. hugs, BJ

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  9. Dear Pat,
    Absolutely masterpiece. Brilliant. Congrats!!
    Kind regards,Sadami

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  10. Well done, Pat. The scene does indeed look wintery. Your background is perfect!

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  11. Pat,cada vez me dejas más impresionada.
    Eres una artista capaz de crear una acuarela increíblemente hermosa.
    Felicidades y un besito para ti.

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  12. Lovely painting. I like the background, and at first I was wondering if you used such cling film. And indeed you did.

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  13. Dear Pat
    Your cardinal is just beautiful and I love the background..
    Blessings,
    Penny

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  14. Simply beautiful Pat , the colors are wonderful and 'wintery'. Bravo!

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  15. A painting so sweet...xx Arianna

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  16. Bello,molto,molto bello,sei bravissima!!

    Ciaoo!!

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  17. Hi Pat, very nice water colour!
    But I didn't understand what is the "cling film"...
    Is it, perhaps, that plastic film typically used for sealing food?
    However, a beautiful experiment of great effect, and very nice and colourful the little bird (I think a red-crested cardinal)!
    Good night and good luck,
    Francesco

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  18. Buen trabajo, muy lograda la sensación de frío, me gusta mucho.
    Saludos

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  19. Your lady cardinal is lovely and I love the icy-looking background. Really well done as always, Pat.

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  20. Beautiful cardinal, Pat, and the background is amazing!!!! Congrats! xoxo

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  21. Thanks so much everyone, I can't tell you how pleased I am you like this, I was so unsure of the bird. Now I feel much happier about it - you're all the best! *hugs*

    and yes, cling film is the plastic film for sealing food, wrapping sandwiches - all that stuff.
    If you tear off a long strip, then scrunch it up and stretch it out just enough to cover a very wet wash, weight it down with heavy books and leave it overnight, you get this wonderful random effect. The colours you use will determine if it looks frosty or sunny. I used sunny in "At Sanctuary's Gate"

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  22. Lovely painting Pat. Brrr, that background is super and really looks soooo coooold! The bird looks a little bit like our winter friend, the Robin, only with a punk hairdo!

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  23. Your choice for the background was excellent. Wonderful painting

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  24. I like the cling film effect - Isn't it a great way of adding texture! I have always wished we have Humming-Birds in the UK. I see so many paintings of them on the blogs! I want to paint one too! And this bird is also very handsome! :0)

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  25. This is beautiful Pat. Love the background.

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  26. Pat, I love it!You did a great job on the cardinal. You also caught the feel of winter. I'm staring, trying to find a way into the painting so I can cool off:)

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  27. Glad you all liked it. I really enjoy playing with texture!

    Michael, I thought she looked like a fat sparrow who'd been using a Dayglo marker :) xx

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  28. Pat,
    she is wonderful and the background is perfect! Of course, you are reminding me that winter is just around the corner. It is so wonderful to look out at the fallen snow and see a beautiful cardinal. It makes winter a bit more durable.
    Hugsxx

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