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Wednesday 26 September 2012

Great Tit and Blackbird

Continuing with the garden bird theme and recording the birds that visit my garden, here is a Great Tit which I painted last night

Great Tit
© Sharon Whitley


and a Blackbird that I did after work tonight using the old faithful Payne's Grey.

Blackbird
© Sharon Whitley

I love the way they wander round the garden cocking their head listening out for what treats await underground.

Gary says I should make a set of greetings cards from them - I've just received a set of Christmas cards I ordered from Moo using some of my paintings from last year but not happy with how a couple of the pictures have printed out - it's difficult to know how a photo of your painting will appear on a print out, the colours are nowhere near as vibrant as the actual painting so I'm a bit disappointed - although the quality of the cards themselves are great.

Til next time -thank you everyone for all your comments!

Links to the other garden bird paintings
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Goldfinch
Sparrow
Magpie

32 comments:

  1. Two welcome additions to the series. I'm sure these will make a very popular edition of cards for sale. Quality work.

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    1. Thanks Mick - if I figure out how to make decent photos of them I'll get them made into cards

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  2. They would all make lovely cards, Sharon! I was wondering: is the pinkish background colour of the first painting deliberate or a camera thing? My camera seems to make bluish pictures and I hate that.

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    1. Hi Judy - the pinkish background is a camera thing - it drives me mad! Even when I take photos outside I get a cast of colour across the photo which really shows when I do a print out, such a nuisance!

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  3. The Great Tit came on screen and I thought 'this is great'....then the Blackbird....BLOODY HELL. Your'e getting a bit too good for my liking Sharon.

    Of course there's a serious side to this comment, I mean the Blackbird....WOW!!

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    1. Lol Pete my number 1 fan! Really pleased you like them - I'll be painting your favourite the starling soon lol!!!

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  4. These are really lovely ... all your bird paintings are fabulous! And your plein air rambling sketches too ... so pleased I just found your blog :)

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    1. Hi Theresa, lovely to see you here and so glad you like the bird paintings!

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  5. I love those cute birds. They are greatly painted.

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  6. I LOVE the entire series, Sharon...the blackbird is SO vibrant! Excellent work, as always.!

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  7. You really know how to use your watercolors. The bird series is outstanding and I love the precise quality mixed in with the splatters and looseness.

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    1. thanks Julie, yes I am a bit of a mixture of looseness with a bit of detail

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  8. What a beautiful work (as always), Sharon!! Gary's idea is great, I would love to see all these magnificently painted birds on set of greeting cards!
    I'm sorry you didn't like few printings, but am excited knowning that there are Christmas cards with your paintings... so lovely!!
    Warm regards.

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    1. I've had the greetings cards redone so the colours look better and will definitely get some birds made into cards to see how they look - thanks Konstantina

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  9. You really know how to make them come alive on paper, two gorgeous birds !

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  10. Hello Sharon. I love your paintings and thank you so much for your comment on my blog. Such a shame I only saw it today . I have just returned after a week in the Lake District where I was running some of my favourite routes and mountains.

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    1. Hello Ralph, I love the Lake District and will be going back there for a few days walking soon, thanks for visiting and for your lovely comment

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  11. Gary is right. That blackbird is amazing woman!

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  12. these are beautiful - you have a gift of capturing the essence of these lovely little birds! Could you print your own cards out? that's what I do and at least that way you can see how they'll look and adjust the colour on the computer accordingly (also probably cheaper than ordering them from Moo I would imagine!)

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    1. I am looking into printing some myself, Moo are sending me another batch with better colour matching so will see how they compare

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  13. I like the way you capture the glint in the eyes.You've inspired me to go out and try to sketch something this weekend.I'm about as much an artist as Fran Drescher is a singer but it's still fun to try!

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    1. Oh Larry go for it, as you say it's fun to try and you never know til you do!

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  14. Fabulous birds, both of them, but I'm particularly impressed by how 'alive' you've made the Payne's Grey. Wonderful.
    As for the camera problem, and Judy too, have you tried setting your White Balance?

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    1. Hi John and thank you - I love Paynes grey - I've used it quite thickly here and then added water to make the blooms. As for the camera, I think I'll just ask Gary to photograph them for me with his camera!

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  15. With every piece of work you get better and better, Sharon! xx Both these birds are superb, but your Blackbird is exceptional. I have had a lot of enquiries about cards from my paintings and have been doing a lot of research recently. It's not as easy as one would think to find a good supplier at a reasonable price.

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    1. I know they're not cheap are they, your paintings would make great cards!

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