Wednesday, February 5, 2014

SANDPIPER AT ANNA MARIA


This little one, with his legs in those positions, looked like he was dancing.  Pretty little sandpiper of some kind.  Very greyish so using only Shadow Violet as the body color.

No drawing, just painted in the background water around him, leaving some whites where he would be, then painted him.  More to finish to darken up some areas and delineate the water from the shore (he's right on the edge).


I think this one is called a Red Knot, brown in the summer, but grey in the winter.  I really don't know the wading birds all that well so to me they are all either egrets, herons, pelicans or sandpipers (although there are many different sandpipers).

Painted on 140# cold press Fabriano watercolor paper.




11 comments:

Gary L. Everest said...

Hi Rhonda,
Two winners here. Beautifully subtle and they look so believable at the sea edge.
I'll be surprised if these two don't sell quickly.
But, then, maybe you'll frame them for your personal collection.
Keep up the great work!
Sincerely,
Gary.

Katherine Harra said...

Beautiful! I love the shadow violet color: whose is it? Did you use salt or spatter to make the nice sand texture? Excellent.

Kev's Art said...

I was on a wander and chanced upon your blog. This is a wonderful, sensitive study. I love how you've captured the pose which is so natural, and the delicate tones. Lovely work, congratulations!!

debwardart said...

Rhonda, I really like this one - you captured the way they skitter along the sand!

Celia Blanco said...

Beautiful work! I love the sand effect and earthy colors really bring out the birds delicate form.

Autumn Leaves said...

Both are lovely but I really love that second piece; so well done right down to the shadow!

Watercolors by Susan Roper said...

Yes, please do tell us abou thte Shadow Violet color! I have successfully used purple acrylic ink for underpainting the shadows, so I assume this would be much the same. This is my favorite of all your little bird paintings, very simple but beautiful.

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks so much, Gary :) This is actually the same painting, the bottom version more worked on the sand :) I don't sell much at all, but may have something to put in for the next juried show competition in spring (spring? yeah, I remember that!)

Katherine, thanks. Since I've had some questions about the color, I'll share that in a post next time so check back :)

Thanks, Deb and Celia.

Thanks, Sherry. It's actually the same painting, the second one more "done".

Susan, I'll post something about the Shadow Violet next time since I had some questions about it.

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks so much, Kev's Art, for stopping by and for taking the time to comment. I enjoyed my visit to your blog today :)

JANE MINTER said...

nicely done rhonda ...the greys are very beautiful.

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks so much, Jane. I almost wish I'd stuck with the single color for everything, but that's just me!