Black Swan

Black Swan/ watercolor/ image 8.25" x 9"/ framed at Blount Bridgers

This painting is part of the birds from Sylvan Heights series. It is hanging at Blount Bridgers in Tarboro Holiday Sale that opens Thursday, Nov 1.

Progress of a Painting 4

Getting close to being done. The dark lower arm rest is too dark and there needs to be a little more interest added to the background.

And another small seabird quick watercolor sketch.

Hilton Head seagull/ watercolor/ 5.5" x 6.5"/ sold

His eye is actually only slightly yellow and it watched me as I crept closer and closer to get this shot. The painting is done with cool and warm colors and lots of water.

progress of a painting 3

An additional layer of color is added to the woman.  The man's face is started. Also the collar is warmed up using the mother color of the painting.

Progress of a Painting 2

The flesh of the face is continued and dried. It is likely that the dark arm rest lower right will be need to be adjusted.

Fred and Silver Shadow Earrings

Here are the prototype of mini painting jewelry. These are 1/2 inch  X 1/2 inch tiles on silver wires.

Duck Trio

Duck Trio/ watercolor/  9" x 18"/ sold

These are Argentine Red Shovelers. The blue of their bills and orange in their feather made a great complimentary color contrast to paint.

The Progress of a Painting 1

Some days I don't have a chance to paint a small "daily" painting. Instead, I work on larger work and/or other art-related activities that take that time. Today was that kind of day. Therefore I am going to share the progress of this painting. I use a "water board" to stretch and then maintain the flatness of the 140 lb paper through the early large wet washes. You can see it here. It is the silver metal frame holding the paper down.  Attached is a photo grey card which allows color correction of the photo sequence. The blue tape is painter's tape which is the easy to remove type. It does leak a little, but it doesn't damage the paper and it allows a fairly clean white edge at completion and less pooling at the rim of the frame with the large washes. My sketch is drawn in lightly. The foreground and background are allowed to connect in many places to make the subjects look less "pasted on". Flesh is under-painted with cool greens and blues in the shadows.  To be continued.

Jars #1

Jars #1/ watercolor/ 7" x 11"/ $65

This is a study using light. I collected different colored old canning jars to be able to paint the subtleties of these difference.
Again, I wanted to depict glass using water, not perfect hard lines.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/jars-1/97142

Sylvan Height's Owl

Sylvan Owl/ watercolor/ 9.75" x 5.75"/ sold

While at Sylvan, these owls were posted in a darkened cage. I waited shooting into the dark whenever a new visitor approached, hoping to capture their beautiful yellow-orange eyes.

Silver Shadow

Silver Shadow/ oil on board/ 6" x 6"/ 

I painted this cat today with the thought of making small reproductions to create earrings: one of Fred and one Silver Shadow. I will post the earrings when they are ready. I want to have some available for our local art sale. I also painted a beautiful owl from Sylvan Heights and may make some bird earrings....

Red Headed Duck

Red Headed Duck/ watercolor/ 6" x 9"/ sold

The sunlight at Sylvan Heights was perfect for capturing the "shine" on the darker birds. This is the red headed duck, second in the bird series from Sylvan Heights.

Fred #1

Fred#1/ oil on board/ 6" x 6"/ sold

I loved the colors of this cat and the shadows. This photo was sent as a challenge today.

Outrunning an image

While wandering through Sylvan Heights relishing the beautiful birds and the wonderful sunlight, my husband caught up with me and told me that he had been "stalked and attacked by one of the resident birds". Not believing him, I went into the enclosure that the accused bird inhabited. The alleged attacker posed for some great shots calmly and quietly. Deciding he was mistaken, my husband re entered the same enclosure and the beautiful Victorian Crowned Pidgeon lept from the ground, onto and then over a fence and started its chase again.  As my husband fled the enclosure, the bird caught up to his blue-jeaned legs and struck them with its wings. I hope a painting of the attacker will make it here tomorrow!

Sylvan Heights #1: Flamingo

Sylvan Heights #1: Flamingo/ watercolor/ 7.5" x 4.5"

Today, much of the day was spent gathering images at a fantastic aviary. Unfortunately, that left painting time squeezed into the very end of today. This is a quick watercolor sketch of a flamingo. It is a change in my color palette, so I will need to repaint this guy again. I love his blue feet!

Today, the drawing for September's monthly giveaway (see box upper right corner) happened.  JoAnn B is September's winner!

Hawk

This juvenile comes through the backyard. Maybe  it is looking for the "backyard rabbit".

Backyard Rabbit

Backyard Rabbit /watercolor/ 5.5 " x 7.5"/ sold

This is a small watercolor sketch of another inhabitant of my yard. The painting is done again working with warm against cool colors and wet washes.

Kentucky Foal #2

                                                                                               

Kentucky Foal #2/ watercolor/ 5.25" x 6" / sold

These two recent horse paintings illustrate the effect of value and color temperature changes to create form. Side by side, it is interesting that form is seen when the colors shift from greens and blues to browns or from red-oranges to blues.  

Just Fledged Watercolor

Just Fledged/ watercolor/ 6" x 4.5"/ sold

Continued bird series. This spring three robins fledged from a nest just outside the front window.

Kentucky Foal

Kentucky Foal/ watercolor/ 5" x 8"/ sold

The shine on the foal's coat is achieved by warm against cool color juxtapositions, gentle value transitions and lots of water.



http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/kentucky-foal/94715

Cardinal Watercolor

Cardinal/ watercolor/ 5" x 8"/ sold

The feeders are full now. The birds  will provide all the color after the leaves have gone. This is a new visitor, who is now the second in this series of backyard birds in watercolor. I painted this study twice. This one has better form because it has more warm against cool color passages.

Best Friend

 Best Friend/ watercolor/ 8 1/2" x 5"/ sold

Again, in response to a request for more watercolors, another loose painting. I like to depict glass using water, rather than the sharp perfect pigment lines that look photorealistic. To do this, the paint is put on and lifted off. It is an exercise in patience.

Bluebird Watercolor

Bluebird/ watercolor/ 5 3/4" x 7 1/2"/ sold

I was asked to post some more watercolors. This is done with a lot of water and spaces of white paper. The manipulation of the pigment and water is easier using Isabey petit gris squirrel hair brushes.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/bluebird-watercolor/94212

Magenta Landscape

Magenta Landscape/ oil on canvas board/ 8" x 8" /sold

An experiment in color.

Zinnia Study #2

Zinnia Study #2/ oil on gessobord/ 6" x 6"/ sold

The last two days I have delivered paintings to galleries in Winston Salem and the Watercolor Society of North Carolina's Annual Juried Exhibition in Elizabeth City, so lots of driving and little painting time.

Here is a bright painting to get going again, after a 'wipe" of last evening's painting.