(Note – If you’re new to my page, this is how it works: At the beginning of each week I randomly draw a new project from my Challenge Bucket, then see what I can create before the week is over. You can read all about my Creativity Challenge here.)
This week brought my ninth Creativity Challenge which means I have been creating steadily for two months already! I can honestly say that this has been so much fun. Making and trying new things has been incredibly interesting, but I’ve also loved the problem solving part. Obstacles like incorrect or limited supplies provide a great opportunity to really dig in to finding creative solutions.
So what would the Creativity Challenge be this week? With the last two challenges, Illustration and Cartooning, I was leaning more strongly into the artist world. This was definitely fun, but also VERY stretching for me, who considers myself more of a crafter than an artist. I admit that in this new week I was looking forward to something totally different. However, though I was ready to move on from art, art wasn’t ready to move on from me, because out of the Challenge Bucket I pulled out… Watercolor Painting!
In the moment my heart sank a little. I briefly entertained the idea of throwing it back and picking another, but, being the rule-follower that I am, I couldn’t do it… even though I’m the one who makes the rules! 🙂 So I decided to trust the process and give it my best shot!
I have always loved watercolor paintings. The way the colors can be so transparent yet so vivid, the way they blend and flow… they just seem to impart so much joy and lightness to their subjects. Over the years I have attempted to learn watercolor painting several times. I’ve tried taking a class, teaching myself from books, as well as learning from online tutorials. However I never stayed with it long enough to really improve, and without the practice, I quickly forgot what I’d learned. Beginning this challenge felt a little bit like being back at square one.
Where to Start?
I remembered our dim little art-less bathroom downstairs, and how my illustration a couple weeks ago began to spark some life in there. Maybe I could add another piece? Would this little bathroom become Kara’s Art Gallery? Or maybe it would be the Gallery of Art That’s Not Quite Good Enough to Go Anywhere Else but Deserves a Place for Now. Either way, I began to consider what I’d like to see there, and I knew that it needed to be colorful. Something simple with a splash of color would be perfect. An image of a bird flew into my mind – a beautiful little hummingbird!
Hummingbird Part 1
I searched up images online, then also began to search up tutorials. I found a sweet little picture and tutorial from an artist named Ellen Crimi-Trent and decided it would be a good project to start with. (It also had the word EASY in the title and she kept saying it was a 5 minute bird – it was perfect!)
The first thing was to pencil an outline for the bird’s body and wings. Next was flooding the body with clean water, then dropping and blending in various colors. After that it was onto the wings.
It all sounds simple enough, but my “5 minute bird” exhausted his time limit in the first step! I continued on, though, and once I got the colors going it was enjoyable to watch how they came together. However, it wasn’t long before the error-making began. Too little pigment, too much blending, muddied colors… it definitely wasn’t looking as pretty as the teacher’s, but I had to remind myself that I’m just learning.
Next was adding in a little bird-friend. I saw this as a chance for me to correct some of the errors from the first one, but I pretty much did all the same things wrong again. At least there was consistency in the picture, right? Once the bodies and wings were formed, they each got some eyeballs and small detail lines throughout.
To finish off the birds was to add some “motion” by extending the paint outside the lines. Then I was taught to add in some leaves and flowers, do a little speckling and voila, it was done!
While it was cute, I wasn’t in love with it, so I tried to discern the things about it that I liked and didn’t like. I liked the shape of the body of the birds, but I didn’t like where the colors got muddy. I liked the eyes and beaks, but I didn’t like the thickness of the paint. I decided I would try another painting.
Hummingbird Part 2
This time I would do one bird in the middle of the picture, and I would play a bit with the shape. Regarding colors, I’d try to make them brighter from the start and resist the urge to overwork them so they wouldn’t become muddy.
Step one, as I learned in the previous tutorial, was to pencil in the shape of the bird.
Once happy with the shape, I began to add color. I stuck to bright blues, with strokes of purple and red, trying to restrain myself from continuing to go back in with more color. I was very happy with the way the colors on the body blended. I went down into the tail and up into the wing, trying to add detail but at the same time not add detail… obviously I didn’t quite understand how the balance should work.
The back wing was added in more shades of purple, and details of the eye and beak were added in a deep shade of navy.
Lastly, I decided to add in a quote and found this one: “Gratitude sweetens even the smallest moments.” I liked it because hummingbirds are so small, but also so sweet. Every little moment in my life truly can be sweetened by a thankful heart. I read it to my youngest son then asked “Do you know what ‘gratitude’ means?”
He said no, so I explained that it’s being thankful. Then, before penning in the words, I decided to change the word ‘gratitude’ to ‘a thankful heart’.
I really took my time with the lettering and expected the extra effort to pay off… but when I was finished I noticed that, as hard as I had tried, it was still uneven! Gotta keep practicing!
Watercolors are such a neat medium. They are a simple little paint but can do amazing things depending on how you work them. I will leave the mastery to the masters, but I have enjoyed dabbling this week. My sweet little hummingbird has taken flight and is now bringing some much-needed life to a bare wall.
That’s it for this week – thanks for following along on my watercolor journey!
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That’s beautiful! I love hearing about your process and I love it when you mention the part about practice makes better skills. …one of my strong beliefs.
Thanks Beth – Yes, no one knows the importance of practicing better than you! 🙂