Western Meadowlark Painting

"Western Meadowlark," prints and the original are available for sale on Etsy

I thought I'd share a bit about my process for painting my latest bird, the Western Meadowlark.  This bird is the official state bird for Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming (that sure is a popular bird)!  It is a beautiful bird that is know for its distinct voice, so I decided to paint this bird with its mouth open as if it were squawking or singing.

Before I sketch each state bird and start the painting process, I like to research the bird first by looking at photographs and reading about it.  My wonderful brother gave me a beautifully illustrated book of North American birds for Christmas called The Crossley ID Guide-Eastern Birds, so I used that book as a starting point to get familiar with the Western Meadowlark.  

From there, I began the painting process, and here are a few pictures that I snapped while painting.  

Once I finished all the detail work, I couldn't decide if I should leave the background white or paint it.  I obviously decided on a bright blue background, which I think really makes the whole painting pop!  Here's a sample of the color I used, one of my favorite colors called Cerulean Blue Hue.

I hope that you like this latest bird of mine, it was an enjoyable process painting it with all of its feathery details.  Nevertheless, I could use your input on if you prefer these bird paintings with colorful or white backgrounds.  You can check out some of my other state bird paintings at my Etsy Shop if you'd like to compare the different looks!  I'd love to hear your thoughts for future reference, thanks!

Happy Tuesday!

Jennifer

Being an Art Therapist turned Artist

Many of you may not know that I used to work as an art therapist with patients who have dementia.  In my experience in that field, people with dementia are often forgotten about or are seen as not being real people who lived full and unique lives.  As an art therapist, I really liked being able to show the value and importance that these residents still had both to themselves and to others.  Although I am not currently working in that field, I care a lot for the art therapy field and still consider myself an advocate for the dementia population.  I actually love talking about both art therapy and the importance of offering high quality dementia care for people, so if you have any questions or comments in those areas I absolutely welcome them!  

Raquel Manuela was also interested in knowing more about my path of being art therapist turned artist, and she offered to feature me in her blog, De.  Of course I said yes, and I have shared with her some of my thoughts on what being an art therapist working with dementia patients was like and how that has shaped me into the artist that I am today.  If you would like to know a little bit more about that part of my life as well, just check out the blog feature here!  

As always, thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Jennifer

Hello 2015!

Hi there and Happy 2015!  Sorry this post is a bit late but 2015 already seems to be flying by!  It was a busy start to the new year with me trying to be proactive in setting new goals for my business as well as looking for some fresh inspiration for my art!  And in the midst of everything, I caught the flu, which put me a bit behind on work (but hopefully that means I got the whole being sick part of my year out of the way already).

Anyways, I thought I would start the year off by sharing a few things that are inspiring me as of lately!

The start to my inspiration board for 2015

1.  John James Audubon.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with Audubon, ornithologist (studier of birds), painter extraordinaire, and creator of the Birds of America book.  One of my favorite paintings of his is the American Flamingo, shown above.  I never tire of looking at his work. Never.

2.  Charles Burchfield, a brilliant painter and watercolor artist who I have just recently discovered.  His work is whimsical, even somewhat mystic, and quite impressive.  As a watercolor artist myself, I am pretty much in awe of his work and cannot seem to get enough of it!

Spring Thunderstorm by Charles Burchfield

3.  My brand new bird book that my awesome brother gave me for Christmas, The Crossley ID Guide- Eastern Birds.  It is a beautifully illustrated book of North American birds and has already inspired me with my latest painting:

My work in progress of the Western Meadowlark

4.  Show Your Work.  I've only just started this book and so far it has not disappointed.  A read that I would thus far highly recommend to other artists!

5.  The song, Waiting on June, by Holly Williams.  It is so beautiful and makes me cry almost every time I hear it.  I'm not sure yet how it is going to play a role in my art-making, but I'm sure it will when the timing is right.  If you haven't heard this song yet, I would recommend that you take a few minutes to listen to it (you won't regret it).

So there is my little rambling of things I am currently obsessed with.  What are your current interests and inspirations?

Cheers,

Jennifer