Welcome to the first Draw A Bird celebration of 2020!
This is a parrot we visited on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, last winter. He entertained us with fun acrobatics and loud squawks. His bright, cheerful feather colors are just the thing to cheer up this drab winter day. Hope the New Year is treating you well. Now if I can just train my brain to write the year properly!
I love watching the cardinals in the back yard this time of year. They really stand out against the starkness of the winter landscape and just make me happy.
My parents have a cardinal that sits on their windowsill and looks in at them when it wants a treat. Sometimes it will hang on the mailbox and look in their front door at them! Pretty smart if you ask me. I gave this little painting to my Mom for her birthday to remind her of the funny antics nature has to offer. ❤
Happy Draw A Bird Day, November edition! I hope you’ve already eaten your breakfast because the sight of this bird might take away your appetite.
I felt it appropriate to honor the turkey for the month of November. How can something so homely looking be so delicious? I know a few folks who do not like turkey, but I look forward to it being front and center at our Thanksgiving feast. Thanksgiving falls rather late this year, leaving less than a month’s time between it and Christmas, but I’m looking forward to cozy sweaters and fun festivities. Thanks for stopping by!
Last month I painted a juvenile wood duck, and as I was posting, I decided to paint an adult male wood duck for October’s unofficial Draw A Bird Day (the 8th of every month). What a handsome subject he is!
Isn’t his headdress something else? I enjoyed mixing so many colors in this painting, and because October has been flying by so far, I didn’t realize it was the 8th until a couple of hours ago! Thankfully, our days have become more fall like (we had unseasonable 90s until about a week ago – ugh), and the leaves have started to change colors. Autumn is my favorite time of year with cooler mornings and evenings, yet afternoons can still reach up into the high 70s or even 80 degrees. Sweater weather is awesome in my book! What’s your favorite season?
Here is a colorful young Carolina duck, also called a wood duck, but he hasn’t quite grown his impressive headdress yet. Still, he has stunning feathers and eye colors.
That just gave me the idea for next month — I’ll paint a close up of the adult male to track the progression of its cool hairdo (feather-do?). I can’t believe how the summer is flying by and hope yours has been great so far!
I’m a bit late in posting this bird; I posted it on Instagram on the 8th but am just now getting around to posting here. Cattle Egrets are native to Africa but somehow reached northeastern South America in 1877. They continued to spread, arriving in the United States in 1941 and nesting here by 1953.
I’ve been working on some larger pieces lately and will share those soon. Hope your August is going well!
Day 8 of World Watercolor Month (Flying High) and also Draw a Bird Day for July
This cute little songbird is a blue gray gnatcatcher. It eats insects (apparently gnats are a favorite) and spiders, and it uses silk from spider webs to construct its nest.
It can also catch insects while in flight, which is kinda cool. We need a dozen or so of these birds in our yard this time of year when lots of icky things are buzzing about. Hope your summer is going well!
