The glass Hummingbird feeder

Well I've taken the plunge. I eventually decided on an almost clear glass but with just a tint of bluey green to pick out the background colours and a pinky red for the glass flowers. I am pleased with the result. It makes the feeder a feature but without it dominating the tiny hummers. I need to redraw the chain before I paint it as it is slightly off centre at the moment and then its just to two Hummingbirds left to do. I've included a close up of the feeder so you can see it more clearly.


Ona

Decisions, decisions

I have been plodding on with the foliage. It has taken me ages but at last I have got the effect that I wanted with the darker more dense foliage in the right hand section enhancing the lighter area to the middle left as you look at it on the screen.I am now trying to decide what colour to paint the glass in the feeder. I flit between an almost clear glass with just the petal feeder sections in red glass or more of a pinky red colour for all of the feeder. I suppose i'm just going to have to take the plunge and decide.

Ona

Hummingbird painting WIP 3

I thought you'd like to see the chubby little male hummingbird that I've just painted. My daughter thinks he must love the food in the feeder. He has such a round little tummy and his tiny tongue is already flipping out ready for his next feed.


Again he is much smaller in my painting than in this photo, only 7cm, but if you click on the photo it's easier to see the detail this way. I will be a while now painting all the rest of the leaves on the right hand side of the painting which I am determined to do before I start on the feeder and last two birds. I'll post my progress again when I have started on the feeder.

Ona

Hummingbird painting WIP 2

It's been a rainy day here so I have had plenty of opportunity to paint. I have worked on the foreground leaves and painted the second hummingbird. This is the impatient one (there is always one in any queue) so my challenge was to make her wings looked blurred leading us to believe her tiny wings are beating even faster than the others. The third hummingbird is the male so I am really looking forward to painting him next and adding that characteristic splash of red.

Hummingbird number 1 is done!

I've painted the first of the 5 hummingbirds in the painting today. Above is the far left hand side of the painting. The female hummingbird in the painting is only 8cm from the tip of her beak to the tip of her tail. The photo below if you click on it is 5 cm larger than she really is so you can see her more clearly on the screen. I needed a very small brush.. but that's ok I have plenty of those. I'm off to paint a couple of the foreground leaves now.


Ona

Amazing hummingbirds

Inspired by my husband James's wonderful photographs of a male and female ruby throated humming bird (two of which you can see below) I just knew that these magical birds had to be on my list of things to paint.



James and I have loved watching the hummers come to our feeders over the last couple of months, flitting in at high speed, hovering and feeding and then leaving. We have often greedily wished more than the one pair would use the feeders. This gave me the idea for my painting. At the beginning of the season when food was scarce the male and the female both loved the convenience of the feeder. We mixed up a 3:1 sugar solution which was rich in energy for them.... definitely high calorie food on the go, sort of like a fast food drive through for us.... so I decided to create a painting using the idea of a 'Fast food fly through'. I wanted to create a drive through queue but with flying/hovering hummingbirds waiting patiently or impatiently for their turn at the feeder. Its taken me a couple days playing around with different compositions using photoshop. The painting will be 14 by 30 inches. I just need to draw in my background now which will be overhanging leaves. I hope this will help to give scale to the tiny hummingbirds.


Ona

A Bleeding Heart

You have to imagine that I have a Bleeding heart flower in my hand as I tell you this tale. Fascinated by reading a shortened version of this story I just had to expand on it and capture the emotion of it in a painting. It is painted on nearly a full sheet of Saunders Waterford cold press paper. On a passing glance it looks like the girl is crying a tear of blood but when you look closer you can see what is really in the tear drop. To understand why let me tell you the story of the Bleeding Heart.


Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess. Young men from far and near came to try to win her heart. But the princess was very vain and ignored them all. A young prince from a neighboring country fell deeply in love with her. She ignored him like the others, though he tried and tried to win her love. One day the prince found a pair of pretty pink rabbits at the market. At this point, I pull off the two outer pink petals and set each on it side to show the animals. He sent them to the princess thinking, "these will surely melt her heart." But the princess continued ignoring him. Then the prince sent her a pair of beautiful earrings. Next I separate the two inner white petals and hold them up next to my ears. Still the princess would have nothing to do with him. The young prince was so heartbroken that he took his dagger and drove it into his heart. The remaining centre of the flower in my hand is shaped like an outline of a heart with a line down the centre. I hold the heart up, remove the dagger-like line, and plunge the "knife" through the heart's centre. The princess, realizing too late that she did love the prince, cried out, "My heart shall bleed for my prince forever more!" and her heart bleeds to this day.


Ona

Summer Romance

Don't you sometimes wish you could just escape from the hustle and bustle of modern day living? This was the inspiration for this watercolour and pen painting. As I stood and gazed at this beautiful bridge, the scent of the nearby gardens filling the air and the sounds of the bees collecting pollen from the wildflowers made me feel as if I had been transported back to a time when Ladies in their beautiful crinoline dresses would stroll through the gardens hoping for a secret rendezvous with their beau.

I have had this on my 'to paint' list for ages and I guess after the steep learning curve of learning Cezanne's style of painting I just wanted to get back to familiar territory. If anyone is interested the bridge in the painting is the Palladian bridge at Wilton House in Wiltshire UK close to where I used to live. The Bridge over the little River Nadder was designed by the 9th Earl of Pembroke, one of the "architect earls," with Roger Morris (1736/7).

Here are some more close ups so you can see the detail in the sky and far side of the bridge.




Ona

Trafalgar 8139, The name is PearO! Hercule PearO!

I got really into the painting yesterday and I didn't want to stop until I finished. My daughter and I then had enormous fun writing the accompanying story.

... If you remember, in 'Top secret...Operation Lemonade' we last left the action with Inspector Japp (who was heading the FB EYE’s investigation into the brutal murder of the blood orange) squeezing the truth out of the lemons because he believed that one of them was responsible for the murder. We also saw the SEE EYE A, Agent Terry lurking in the background. So to the next installment...



“Welcome to Whitehaven Mansions the home of the infamous Hercule PearO. I am your tour guide, Felicity Lemon. During this tour you will explore this magnificent house, view its exceptional art collection including PearO’s favorite piece a very special version of Paul Cezanne’s ‘The Three Bathers’ painted especially for him and as yet unseen by the general public. You will even partake in the sipping of the finest herbal tea’s with PearO himself. First let us enter his office. On top of the chest of drawers just beneath the painting of ‘The Three Bathers’ you can see the prize vegetable marrow grown by PearO himself.

But wait, the telephone is ringing. Who can this be calling at such an hour? Hush everyone. I believe Hercule PearO’s superior juices are being called upon once again to solve yet another murder mystery.”

“Trafalgar 8139, The name is PearO! Hercule PearO!

Agent Terry? So glad to hear from you! Now slow down dear fellow. We don’t want you having a meltdown… James Japp has done what? Felicity lemon! Come quick! Inspector Japp has been leading an investigation into the brutal murder of a blood orange. He was convinced that a lemon had committed the crime and held in custody every lemon that was in the vicinity at the time of the murder and interrogated each and every one of them hoping to squeeze out the truth.”

The usually calm and collected Felicity rushed into the room toward PearO looking more than a little bitter. She had never totally trusted James Japp’s intuition.

“Japp always jumps to conclusions and accepts any clue much too readily.” She murmured sourly as her peel flew in all directions behind her.

The teapot and tea cup leaned closer to PearO, hoping to hear more of the juicy details.

A group of apples that PearO had been neatly ordering in a line were sick to the core at the news and as we speak were turning a very strange shade of green. Another group of apples were looking decidedly drained of colour and one of them was even rolling off the table, it was so pale.




“Agent Terry, of course I will meet you and James Japp. Where? On the Orient Express? Certainly. See you this evening. Goodbye”

“Felicity, Pack me some spare peel. I have a train to catch!”


Ona