May is Warbler Month in Massachusetts – the best month of the year for birding because exciting birds are briefly traveling through on their northward migration, singing and carrying on. (There’s also a fall migration, but because it’s shorter and quiet, I rarely see anything.) I was excited about the birds I was seeing and began a new game: I would paint birds, but only those I had recently seen within a day or so. Although I used photo references, I tried to paint them accurate to my experience (in the same type of tree, doing the same type of behavior, and so on). Thus the Bird Collection was born.
I also continued my National Parks project this month, and did a couple of video game inspired landscapes.
Supplies Update: I concluded my experiment with non-toxic paints and returned a couple of cobalt-based paints to my palette: Cerulean Blue and Cobalt Turquoise (Da Vinci versions, both made from PB36). I do think you can get by without any cobalt paints, but absence made the heart grow fonder for those ones. However, the experiment confirmed that Ultramarine Blue pretty much covers my use case for Cobalt Blue; although I like the color, it’s kind of a relief not to be constantly choosing between two very similar paints.
Next Month… My original thought was that I could continue the bird collection by filling in common birds, now that the uncommon ones aren’t moving through, but I’m a bit burned out on bird paintings and may take a break. I’ve been concentrating so hard on “series” that I think it will be fun to do some freestyle for a bit.
Summer has also typically been a time when I focus on skies, and I’m feeling the pull again. I’ve begun a weekly sky challenge, #skieswithjt, run by John Widener (@jthomasart_ on Instagram).
Total Paintings for May: 35
4 gouache
3 plein air
13 National Parks
13 birds
The Paintings
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Dry Tortugas National Park. May 1, 2023.Everglades National Park. May 2, 2023.Northern lights at Gates of the Arctic National Park. May 4, 2023.Gateway Arch in gouache. May 5, 2023.Sunset beach road in gouache; based on a photo by @shinndierock in Ocean City, NJ. May 5, 2023.Plein air pines at Middlesex Fells. May 7, 2023.Grand Canyon National Park in watercolor on Milford 140lb cold press. May 11, 2023.Fireweed and mountains at Glacier National Park in watercolor on Milford 140lb cold press. May 12, 2023.Baltimore Oriole in a walnut tree, Fresh Pond. On Lanaquarelle Cold Press. May 13, 2023.Glacier Bay National Park. May 13, 2023.Great Basin National Park in watercolor. May 13, 2023.Black-crowned Night Heron in a Dawn Redwood, Mt Auburn Cemetery. May 14, 2023.Great Sand Dunes in gouache. May 14, 2023.Bobolink at Danehy Park. May 16, 2023.Brown-headed Cowbird at Danehy Park, Cambridge. May 17, 2023.Magnolia Warbler in a hickory tree, Kingsley Park, Cambridge. May 18, 2023.Wet on wet sky. May 12, 2023.Great Smoky Mountains in watercolor. May 16, 2023. Guadalupe National Park. May 20, 2023.Pine Warbler in a red pine at Broadmoore Audubon Sanctuary. May 21, 2023.Bay-breasted Warbler high in a maple at Kingsley Park. May 22, 2023.Male American Redstart in dense shrubbery in Lusitania Meadow, Fresh Pond. May 23, 2023. Tree Swallows in Lusitania Meadow, Fresh Pond, Cambridge. May 24, 2023.Among cottonwoods and lupines in Lusitania Meadow (plein air). May 25, 2023.Haleakala National Park. May 25, 2023.Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak in an oak at Lusitania Meadow, Fresh Pond, Cambridge. May 26, 2023. Sky Islands from Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. May 27, 2023.Female Mallard at Fresh Pond. May 27, 2023.Arcadia Bay from Life is Strange. May 28, 2023.Female American Redstart in a tulip tree, Kingsley Park, Fresh Pond, Cambridge. May 28, 2023.Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. May 29, 2023. Brewster’s Woods, Concord, MA. May 29, 2023.Prothonotary Warbler at Brewster’s Woods, Concord. May 29, 2023.Stardew Valley loading screen in gouache. May 30 2023. Blue Sky for #skieswithjt week 1. May 31, 2023.
