Watercolor Collections and Birds

I painted these little birds over the weekend as a holiday present for my mom, who lives in Seattle. (I think she still prefers using smoke signals over the internet, so I can share these here without worrying that she'll see them. Even if she did come across this blog, it probably wouldn't be much of a surprise to her that she'll be getting a piece of artwork for Christmas since its been the trend for the last 23 years.)

based on this flycatcher by john & fish.

based on this yuhina by john & fish and this quail by ed stockard

I was in the mood to paint more but didn't know what to paint, so I did a quick watercolor sketch of this collection by fiona watson... I love the colors and composition of her photographs and thought it might be a good warm-up exercise.

Watercolors are definitely my favorite medium to paint in. I think I'll add a little collage and stamping to these too.