Birds in flight

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

I have been interested in putting birds in my watercolors for some time, at least when appropiate. For me they add movement and give a sense of scale. The two birds to the right in the above picture are red-tailed hawks, and the bird in the upper left is a ruffled grouse or at least intended to be. Both are found in our area, here in southern Vermont.

This is just a little sketch of a watercolor, not intended to be a finished painting, as is evident from the bird on the lower left, perched on a branch suspended in the middle of the air.  Off to the left of him (not visible in the photo) I have another fellow sitting on a piece of barbed wire.

It is easy to over do it by adding too much detail for the scale of the bird. I have learned it is important to get the bird's torso just right and then give color variation in the wings to suggest the reflection of light. Birds need to be just above the tree line or they get lost in the picture. I use Ogden Pleissner and Carol Evans, both successful watercolor painters, for inspiration.