Grubs Up

Hi everyone,

I managed to finish the mother bird today and add in the last few shadows so here is the finished painting and the story that goes with it.


Life at the moment is more than a little crowded in the barn swallows nest. The babies are growing fast. Their baby down has almost gone and they will soon be ready to leave the nest. The lack of space at the moment makes feeding time especially challenging. Each time a parent returns there is a tussle for the prime feeding spot as a sea of mouths opened wide. As mum returns once again with some food the two most well behaved babies of the family are sat nicely at the front of the nest with their fluffy little wings neatly folded beside them. They would not dream of pushing their siblings out of the way. They have their mouths wide open ready to be fed just as their mother has told them to do. The most demanding of the family however is determined to be noticed and to get his beak in front of them. The oldest baby is feeling fed up because he is not being offered the food this time. In his annoyance he decides to block the baby of the family from getting closer to the food. For the baby there is simply ‘no room at the inn’

Ona

Grubs up WIP 6

I have been busily working on the rest of the background over the last couple of days. The wood grain has taken me a while but thankfully it's nearly done, just some shadowing left to do and then I can focus on the mother bird. I am hoping that I'll manage to finish her in a day or two.

Ona

'Grubs Up' WIP 5

I have managed to get some more of the painting done today. Creating the mud pellet and straw nest was a challenge because I wanted to suggest this unique texture but not encourage the viewer to focus in on it too much as the mother and 5 baby birds are of course the centre of interest in the painting. I have a little adjusting to do to it in a few areas but it is nearly done. I have also begun painting the mother bird. I really want to capture the huge difference in appearance between the mum and the 5 babies. Although the babies colouring is largely the same as their mum, they are still much fluffier and plumper. In contrast their mother is sleek and elegant in appearance with muscular shoulders ready to power her in flight as she swoops to catch food for her young.

Ona

Grubs Up WIP 4

All 5 baby barn swallows are now painted. The last one is the most demanding of the family. He is determined to be noticed and to get his beak in front of the others. It has been fun creating their little characters and accentuating their features to convey their personalities. I now need to focus on their nest.

Ona

Grubs Up WIP 3

Over the last couple of days I have been focusing on the next two babies in the nest. These are the most well behaved babies of the family. They are sat nicely at the front of the nest with their fluffy little wings neatly folded beside them. They would not dream of pushing their siblings out of the way. They have their mouths wide open ready to be fed just as their mother has told them to do. As a result they are the two who are being rewarded with the food this time. It was fun painting their wide open mouths.

Ona

'Grubs Up' WIP2

Today I have been working on developing the character of my second youngster in the painting. I still have his tail to do but am quite pleased with how he is developing so far. He is feeling slightly fed up because he has not being offered the food this time. After all he is the biggest and in his opinion the most beautiful of the family. In his annoyance he decides to block the baby of the family from getting closer to the food. "If I can't have the food you certainly can't"

Ona

I'm having fun with Birds!

I am so lucky to have such fabulous reference photo's to use for my paintings. The other day James took some photo's of a family of barn swallows in their nest as they were being fed by their mum. Here are just two of them for you to see.



I knew as soon as I saw them I just had to compose my own painting. The family that James photographed were already growing rapidly so much so in fact that it was hard for all of the babies to squeeze in the nest. Each time a parent returned there was a tussle for the prime feeding spot as a sea of mouths opened wide. I wanted to capture that struggle in a painting whilst showing the disparity between the biggest and strongest and the smallest youngster who had to struggle to be noticed in the nest. Today I started painting and have begun the wood background that I decided to use instead of the metal bridge in James photo's.


Here is a close up of the smallest of the family who has been pushed to the back of the nest in the struggle to get the prime feeding spot. I get the feeling he is saying 'hey... don't forget me!'


Ona

Fast food FLY through!

I've finished the painting. It is 14 inches by 30 inches and is painted on arches hot press watercolour paper. Hummingbirds are such beautiful birds and I have really enjoyed painting them.

It was wonderful to be able to study closely these magical birds in their different modes of flight, to capture the movement of their wings, their delicate features and their tiny pointed beaks...


... to be able to watch them closely as they feed and capture this moment in a painting. To see the tiny droplets of the sugary solution on their beaks glistening as they catch the light.


and to marvel at how they use their wings and tails to hover and flit with such precision..


Ona