Chickadees

Number 14.

Thank you for looking! These are all part of a dummy book too called Birds of the Heavens. I'll be putting more images up of various art work later on.

I had the most experience working with this piece, since this is the image I used to do line and color practices. This image was done on cicada paper first, which is a delicate oriental paper made of crushed cicada wings. Then, it was tested on unstretched silk before being transferred onto stretched silk. My grandparents claimed this piece. :)

Great Horned Owl

Number 13. 

This one took a bit of extra work trying to fix mistakes. When I did the blue wash, I did a bit too much so there isn't as much negative space. The silk got a little weak during the contour inking and shading because sometimes I forgot to put books up underneath the silk to give it strength. However, I feel the detail of the owl and the beautiful white color of the gouache strengthen the piece. My younger brother claimed this one.

Blue Jay

Number 12.

This is the first one of the 14 to be completely finished. It's definitely one of my favorites. To do Eastern style watercolor, you go from dark to light, where white is always, ALWAYS, added last. The pine needles and pine cones are done using spontaneous strokes.

Ruffed Grouse

Number 11. 

I thought I was biting off more than I could chew when I chose to do this bird. Ruffed grouses have very detailed feathers. The inking process took a bit longer to add in more lines and such. The colors are a bit brighter than in real life just to bring the bird out a bit more. 

Great Blue Herons

Number 10. 

Herons are such elegant birds. They were fun and yet a little challenging to draw. They needed so much white, and the importance of fine lines is amplified in this bird, particularly in the white chest area.

Mourning Dove

Number 9.

This is my least favorite piece. The dove kept giving me problems, or rather I just kept having problems trying to get the right color. It's darker than a mourning dove's actual colors, but this is the closest I could get it. Also, the upper main branch looks more like a noodle than a branch. I need to observe nature more so I can get better at drawing trees.

Cardinal

Number 8.

I spent so much time doing the ink shading, and I think it shows really well how much of an impact the ink shading has on the overall values of the color added, especially on the wing. The wash is two different colors, a reddish-orange, and yellow.

Loons

Number 7.

The loon was tricky. I tried to give the black a sheen as well as also looking really black. In sumi-e, after the ink is down, blue is added on top for that sheen effect. White can also be added to pop it out a little more, like on the head. 

The background gave me problems at first. The landmass wash didn't turn out so good, but I learned that color is fairly forgiving in that manner. The problem was rectified with a wash of a bolder color to cover up the mistake.

Seagulls

Number 6. 

SQUAWK! This seagull's pose is a lot more animated than most of the other birds, but is there really any other appropriate way to portray a seagull? I didn't think so. So much white is tricky. Thin, fine white strokes for feathers, but before that, light layers of brown are added for a little value, because you don't want to put ink shading down where white is going to be, then the white won't stand out as well.

Bald Eagle

Number 5.

I wanted to portray the eagle in a dynamic pose, in this case swooping down to catch a fish. It's harder to color a large bird like an eagle, because the colors are so dark. In the future, I will spend more time ink shading so it strengthens the color. Also, I messed up the waves on the left-hand side by putting too much. I need to slow down and listen to the image. ;)

Gold Finches

Number 4.

More time was probably spent on the flowers than on the birds. Only one plant is detailed so the viewer doesn't lose focus of the birds. I put gold finches and lilacs together because of the complementary colors of yellow and purple. The non-detailed flowers, leaves, and stems are done in the spontaneous style.

Woodpecker

Number 3.

I really like how the green washes turned out. This bird was easier to color than the loon since it is smaller. And if you notice on the tree, it has some ink shading underneath the color. The daffodils are done in the spontaneous style.

Hummingbirds

Here is the 2nd image.

The background trumpet flowers proved to me that silk painting is indeed slightly forgiving. Washing out a mistake with water, or unscented white soap and water, works, and then whatever's left can be covered up by bolder colors. I like how everything turned out, just that the wood stretcher had warped, because that's what wood does, and unfortunately it warped a bit much. The stretchers are only 3/4 inches thick, which makes them more prone to warping, even though they were used within a day or two to stretch silk.

Robin

Here is piece number 1 of my Diploma Works, unframed. It is done with sumi-e ink, Japanese color chips, gouache, and tempra paint. It utilizes the fine line and spontaneous stroke styles. The following 13 images are done with the same media and styles, and they're all 11 inches by 17 inches.

Fine line is like drawing, except with ink and brush. As the name suggests, the lines made should be very fine. Spontaneous style is creating a shape with a stroke. The flowers on all of the pieces are done with the spontaneous style. It's quicker but more difficult. This bird has a green color on its wing to give it an iridescent look. Before I added the flower blossoms, I went a little crazy with the branches.

Greetings

Hello Reader,

My name is Lauren. I'm a Senior Illustration student up North in Michigan. I'll be graduating in May, and in the next few days I will be putting artwork up on here.

Thanks,

Lauren