Miniature Painting - No 23 - Junco

Onward we go with my miniature paintings project. Here's painting number 23, an Oregon dark-eyed junco. I photographed this cute little guy just a few weeks ago at Marymoor Park in Redmond, WA. He was sitting in a hawthorn bush soaking up what little warmth he could from the weak winter sun. This is a great time of year to for photography in some ways. The low angle of the sun in winter makes for some nice lighting even in mid day, which is great for those of us who are not good at getting up early in the morning to get that beautiful dawn light. :)

 5"x7" oil on Gessobord

Original: SOLD

How to Paint a Waterfall Scene

I've been working on this waterfall painting for a while, as some of you may know. I finally finished! A while back it was a toss-up between putting deer or wolves in the scene. I decided to go with deer because the scene seemed so peaceful and tranquil that deer just suited it better than wolves. Not to fear, however! I already have another wolf painting in the works! But, for now it's deer.

I thought you might enjoy seeing the painting in different stages of progress to see how I work. I can't say there's any scientific method to how I do my paintings. I just sort of go with what I'm in the mood for that day. In some images you'll see more work was done on rocks, in others more work is done on trees, in others more work is done on water. It was really just whatever I felt like working on that day.

I'm only posting a few images here because there are a lot. At the bottom of the post I've added a link to Youtube. I posted a video there that consists of about 20 images at various stages in the progress of the work. I hope you will find it interesting and helpful if you should decide to do a waterfall painting yourself. Feel free to ask questions and leave comments about the images and video!

How to Paint a Waterfall Video on Youtube

Miniature Painting - No 22 - Brown Goose

Today's miniature painting is another domestic bird, a brown Chinese goose. According to Wikipedia:

The Chinese Goose is a breed of domesticated goose descended from the wild Swan Goose. Chinese geese differ from the wild birds in much larger size (up to 5–10 kg in males, 4–9 kg in females), and in having an often strongly developed basal knob on the upper side of the bill. The knob at the top of the beak is more prominent on males than females. By 6–8 weeks of age, the knob is already pronounced enough that it can be used for sexing. Chinese geese are a close cousin of the African goose, a heavier breed also descended from the Swan Goose.
Chinese geese appear in two varieties: a brown similar to the wild Swan Goose, and white. While many domestic Chinese geese have a similar body type to other breeds, the breed standards as defined in the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection and other sources call for a slimmer, taller fowl.
Chinese geese are among the better laying breeds of geese. A female Chinese goose can lay 50–60 eggs over the course of the breeding season (February to June), although there are reports of Chinese Geese laying up to 100 eggs during that time.

I've seen a lot of these on ponds and rivers around WA, hanging around wild ducks and Canada geese. I'm not sure if they are wild descendants of escaped domestic geese or domestic geese just out for a swim. They look as natural in the wild as they do on the farm so I decided to paint this one in a natural wild setting.

 5"x7" oil on Gessobord

Original: SOLD

Miniature Painting - No 21 - Rooster!

Doing something a little different today. Instead of wildlife I decided to do a farm animal for today's miniature painting, a nice red rooster. Who doesn't love a Rhode Island Red, a classic symbol of country life? Now that we've moved from a small yard to having over an acre we've been thinking of building a coop and getting a few chickens to have some fresh eggs. I hear Rhode Island Reds are good hardy chickens so they are good starter chickens for us less experienced chicken owners. :)
While thinking about chickens and eggs I visited a local farm where I snapped a few pictures of several different kinds of chickens. This painting is the result of one of those photos.

 6"x6" oil on Gessobord

Original: SOLD

Miniature Painting - No 20 - Baby Bobcat

This little cutie was painted from a photo I took at the Triple D Game Farm in Kalispell, Montana a few years ago. He was just so adorable, running around in the morning sun, exploring his surroundings and play-hunting. Here he had been running and playing and jumped up on top of a log to pause for a moment and look at his surroundings. Then off in a flash he leapt off the log and was dashing around playing again. So much fun to watch!

 5"x7" oil on Gessobord

Original: SOLD

Miniature Painting - No 19 - American Bison

Well, now that the holidays are over, the time for slacking off on my art is over! Back to business! This is the 19th of my miniature paintings. Today's painting is of a North American bison. This was created from a photo I took in Yellowstone National Park several years ago.

 5"x7" oil on Gessobord

Original: SOLD

Miniature Painting - No 18 - Bald Eagle Portrait

This is the 18th miniature painting, a bald eagle. I actually painted this several days ago but with the holidays I didn't have a chance to post it right away. It's amazing how much time it takes to shop for gifts, wrap presents, ship packages, address and mail Christmas cards, and prepare for the holiday feast! But I'm sure you're all well aware of that yourselves right now! :)

So, here's the eagle painting. It was done from a photo I took at Moonridge Animal Park in Big Bear, CA. Well, it was called Moonridge Animal Park way back then. Today it's known as the Big Bear Alpine Zoo. If you're ever in the area definitely stop in and visit all the beautiful animals.

 5"x7" oil on Gessobord

Original: SOLD