Fragmented Watercolor and Nature Pix

I am having a lot of fun with the latest watercolor that I call fragmented watercolor. I traced my last watercolor outline and then drew lines through it. While adding color, I am treating each segment as a separate piece. This is what I have so far.

I liked how it was progressing, but the lines were bothering me, so I decided to make them more a part of the picture. I outlined the parts of the picture including the lines. I think I like this better.

It still needs shadows and some background, but so far I like it quite well.


Meanwhile, I worked on the Van Gogh-ish flowers on the windowsill and came up with this as my value study. We were instructed to ignore the flowers, so I tried to do that.

 

Late yesterday afternoon, the hubster and I drove to Haehnle Sanctuary just south of here to check out the Sandhill Crane gathering. We went for a walk on the mowed path and observed the park itself while listening to the calls of the birds. The sky was flat, colorless, but there was still some color in some of the surrounding trees.

We saw a couple other living creatures on our walk.

The lake where the cranes congregated was about 1/2 mile away from the bench where we were sitting. I used my 20x zoom Canon point and shoot camera and was able to get a picture of them. The quality is not what I wish it was, but I am still impressed with the zoom on this little camera.

I could not believe the number of cranes that arrived while we were there. I wanted to come up with an alliterative phrase for them, like a cacophony of cranes, a crowd of cranes, a crateload of cranes, a cluster of cranes, a carload of cranes, a cornucopia of cranes.....

I finally looked it up and a group of cranes is called a sedge. Not exactly the lilting off the tongue I was looking for, but for what it is worth, the hubster and I witnessed a sedge of cranes last evening.

I am quite sore from yesterday's conditioning and core class and my left Achilles' tendon is still bothering me, so I am not going to yoga this morning. I am, however, going to the chiropractor.  I spray painted the post cards I'd cut to size for the swap that I am involved in and will try to work on them this afternoon. I will share them with you when they are done.

What about you? What are you doing these days? Are you out of doors enjoying this warm weather before the big chill? Are you finding time for your art? I'd love to see it....

xoxo