Watercolors: Bluebirds 2

Bluebirds 1

Bluebirds 1 w/ Lightened Background

Well, after last week, you can’t say I’ve never shown you any of my work that is truly bad, can you.  I look at the first blue bird painting and shudder.  Any way, it was worth writing about because it made me identify some of my mistakes and think about how I could change what I had done in a new painting.  Unfortunately, change doesn’t always mean “change for the better”.   

So, let me look at last week’s birds again.  Since then I “lifted” some of the background which made it a bit less intrusive than before, but it’s still too busy and the colors are too bold.  Baby bird doesn’t seem to be wobbly; I think he looks stuffed.  You know what it feels like when you pick up a Stieff teddy bear?  There’s no soft cuddly feeling; they feel rigid.  That’s the way I think baby bird would be – only he doesn’t even look soft as the Stieff bears definitely do.  Mama bird isn’t too bad (D likes her legs - !).  But what really rocks me back in my chair are those eyes!  They’re Googly eyes that should be in a cartoon, don’t you think?  Talk about a horror show!  Oh well . . . .

Bluebirds 2

Now let me look at this week’s painting which is on a smaller piece of paper.    First, the background recedes appropriately, but it doesn’t add anything to the painting.  It’s just there.  Second, the eyes are much better.  I no longer think a child would run screaming from this painting.  Baby bird looks soft though a bit too light and maybe a bit more wobbly?  The wings are closer to looking as though they are fluttering like mad in an attempt to keep him upright.   And Mama?  She’s okay but her legs aren’t as carefully drawn this week.  The branch on which they are perched is crude – a slapdash afterthought.

Basically, although some things improved, I think I got bored three-quarters of the way through.  My feeling is, “Well, I never have to do that again!” 

That tells me that this is not a painting.  It’s merely an exercise from which I have learned some things that I hope I can remember to keep in mind with my next subject – whatever that might be.