I'm currently working on a large painting of wading birds in a tree! I also decided that I'd make the painting specifically about Green Cay Wetlands in Boynton Beach. I love that park, and it's a great place to see wildlife! I choose bird and plant species that I feel either define that park, or are special to me, such as the combination of pickerelweed, duck potato and pond apple.
The animal species include anhinga, white ibis, common moorhen, least bittern, turtle (I’m still figuring out what kind), black and white warbler, red-winged blackbird, zebra longwing and white peacock butterflies, three different dragonflies, and various native bees.
I hope that this piece helps people understand and connect to nature. Bird rookeries and wetlands are not just in some far off wilderness, they are connected to us, and us to them. Many are in our urban centers and are in need of protection (like the Calusa rookery, currently at risk). Green Cay is a great example of this. It’s a man-made wetland that’s part of the water treatment system of Boynton Beach. It also functions as a popular public park, and is teeming with biodiversity.
Process
I started by making a collage of my reference photos in Photoshop. Then I created a detailed sketch. I don't always create detailed sketches of my paintings, but for this piece I wanted to understand the foliage a little better. After that, I printed out the image and transferred it onto a large 36x42" piece of watercolor paper stretched onto a board:
I decided to then make a few smaller studies of the piece, to help me get a sense of how I might paint the larger version, what colors to use, etc. This is something that I also don't normally do, but I was concerned again about the amount of foliage. (The last time I painted this many leaves with this level of detail, was the Mangrove Relationships piece in 2017.)
I will be working on the larger 36x42" painting steadily throughout the spring! Here are a few more images, including a nicer version of the study, a closeup on the face of one of the ibis, some of my reference photos, and photos of Green Cay Wetlands:
Comments