Hummer II

19″x 25″  Watercolor on Torchon

My  “Pond Series” is a series of spontaneous watercolors Inspired by wildlife and nature sightings in and around the pond on my parent’s farm with the plethora of sights, sounds, smells, and textures found in and around them.  I capture the momentary microcosm that caught my attention; the light, reflections, wildlife, and/or atmosphere through the organic and lively textures.

These paintings highlight my love for local Virginia native wildlife and expressing this through using both lively color choices and vibrating textures.  The subjects in these paintings were not drawn but were literally “lifted” from a mono-print “like” background created by flipping the dampened paper and wet pigment multiple times on an acrylic/plastic surface, mixing colors and shapes both front and back.  I then developed the compositions using both additive and subtractive watercolor techniques to achieve the unique and bold depiction of my subjects with vivid colors of transparent and opaque watercolors.

“Hummer II” is the second of the series depicting a macro view of these tiny creatures, in this case, two hummingbirds in a typical territorial battle over the feeder.  They are such mighty little warriors!  Overlapping the hummingbirds in mid-hover and mid-flight creates a dynamic moment which keeps the viewer’s eye moving throughout the piece.  It was particularly fun to develop the impression of the transparent wings in rapid motion.  I pulled from multiple reference photos of hummingbirds at my feeders for inspiration.