Hot off the Palette
"Bird on a Wire", Watercolour 11 x 14
A walk with my dog, Cheyenne on the hills of the Qu'Appelle Valley inspired this particular painting. I came across a fence post with rusty old barbed wire attached. I took several photographs for reference ... as I always have my camera with me. I also did some preliminary on-site sketches of the intertwining wire.
On returning to my studio, I felt the image needed something else. After looking through numerous magazines, I finally found an image of a blue bird that would look perfect against the bright blue sky. With the help of my Macintosh computer, I scanned in the image and positioned it on the wire in my photograph.
To start the painting, I first created a pencil drawing on my 300-lb. watercolour paper, and then I began to lay in my washes of colour.
Then I concentrated on the wire, as I wanted this to be what the painting was all about.
Keeping in mind the light source from the right side, after several washes and additional bold swatches of colour on the fence post, the painting began to come to life.
I then intensified the sky and the prairie grass. Lastly, with my watercolour pencils, I added some more texture to the fence post.
The original painting has recently be purchaser by a collector in Saskatchewan. She is giving it to a friend, another collector, as a "cottage warming gift".