Varla Bishop Landscape, Watercolor Paintings, wildlife

Look Cranes!!!

That’s what I always say when I see sandhill cranes. I see them, I grab my phone, and I take tons of pictures. Then I tell myself I need to paint these amazing birds. Then I don’t.

Then I hit “repeat” because I see cranes again, then I yell out that fact, look for my phone, and take more pictures. So I had to break the cycle. I also needed to get my watercolors out again. It’s been a year. Let’s paint some cranes!!!

I got my paper out, reference photos, paint and water. Ready to paint; I painted. Then I threw that sheet away and started again. This is my second effort. I enjoyed painting the cranes but what do I do with the background. I know you should start with the background first. (It says that in all of the art books.)

My friends gave me different suggestions for backgrounds but I ended up loving the blades of grass the best. I thought it made the painting look contemporary. Can’t explain why, but I like using a word that has more then two vowels. Contemporary. It makes me feel like a big time artist.

So here are my cranes. I call them “My Three Stars”.

“My Three Stars”

Varla Bishop Watercolor Paintings, wildlife

Joseph

Joseph is my granddaughter’s turtle. I think Joseph was purchased a few years back at a fair or carnival. I think he cost $1.50. They said Joseph would grow. At the time he was about the size of a silver dollar.

Joseph home has evolved from living in a small dish to a huge aquarium. He also shares his space with a few fish. Some of the fish have the job of keeping the aquarium clean. I’m not sure what the other fish were suppose to do. They are growing too.

Joseph lives in a tank that has a filter to help keep water clean. He has a basking area equipped with a sun lamp in case he doesn’t feel like staying in the water but doesn’t want to catch a chill.

This $1.50 pet has turned into an expensive endeavor. Since Joseph is now living a good like I had to take some pictures of him. His job as a model is the least he could do. I tried to capture Joseph in all his beauty reaching for the sprinkles of food that is floating in the tank. He knows it is all for him.

Meet Joseph…

“Joseph” watercolor 9”x12”
Varla Bishop Watercolor Paintings, wildlife

Swans

I was going to paint one big picture with several swans in it but when I did ot didn’t look right. I don’t remember where we were when I saw the swans but I really loved the elegance of the black one. I took several pictures hoping to capture their beauty.

Once painted the number of birds wasn’t right. What I saw in my head didn’t translate to paper. So what do you do? You get the scissors and cut.

Now I have two paintings.