A Charming Traveller visited me in the garden. I heard him arrive with those fast wings and watched as he screeched to a stop and hovered right in front of me. Luckily, I had a camera locked and loaded and got a great picture of him. Hummingbirds are a favorite subject of mine.
Sketching
Hummingbirds are such expert aviators. It is utterly amazing how fast and accurate their flying is
Beginning with the hummingbird’s main subject, I then drew the most important flowers behind and below him. I used his photograph to draw him entering the stage from up and to the right. Putting a pastel kind of wash in the background helps me to see the bird outline better.
I faithfully render the hummingbird main star.
To show how he quickly arrived and froze, the only thing I could think of was to put those cartoon movement curves on him. He was repeatedly drawn. The first image was very light and getting darker till he arrived in full color.
The patch of sunflowers I sat in is pretty thick, full of flowers and leaves. With a complicated puzzle of background requiring a little bit of simplification. Finally, becoming a continuous melody of nature.
Slowly finishing the background and adjusting the hummingbird shapes to allow transparency was kind of tricky.
The gradual darkening, and adjusting transparency of the bird were completed in many steps.
The painting was almost complete. But as I gazed at it, there was something wrong. It was the background that competed with the main character.
Wa Lah! I added a rose wash over the entire background and it darkened and dulled it, allowing Mr. Hummingbird to shine in the front. He is done! I did avoid the front sunflower face to keep it at the same level as the hummer. Now, the test will be to see how many people notice him flying into the frame.
Cool huh? I would never have noticed cause I don’t always get a copy. It makes me feel great.
Little by little the background starts to radiate a warm sunny glow. Making a great outline for all the birds, vines, leaves and honeysuckle blossoms.
I like the shapes and locations so I happily head into finishing all the bright blossoms and leaves being careful of shadows and shapes and I go.
Finishing up the details like blossoms in front and behind with shadows. Leaves here and there with some more detail. I try to ensure enough variety of texture and tone to keep the eyes discovering different parts as you tour the painting. Just keep working on it and it will get done.
This is a 22″w x 30″h watercolor on 300 lb. watercolor paper entitled, “
The seventh hummingbird is located in the distance (smaller) up in the top right-hand corner of this painting. Okay, so now we look at the background which remains lightly sketched-in with only a transparent wash. The birds are showing up nicely so I hope to keep that happening.
But the background does seem rather blasé and desperately needing some definition to cultivate interest. I begin with darkening some branches, and giving them shadows and highlights. Here is a closeup showing how this branch highlighting an darkening can change the way branches look.
7 Hummingbirds Tutorial 4 starts work on a second hummingbird perched on the branch in the lower right section. He is the character that I am wanting to have blend in with his leafy surroundings, leaving something to discover in the painting. His coloring is going to be in greens so that should allow this kind of subterfuge. Rendering him begins with the bright yellow-green iridescent flecks on his chest and outlining his body shape where I notice the light hitting his feathers.
The green feathers are lightly washed in with this view, so you can see his body roundness.
Now here he is perched on the branch showing how he looks after getting his green feathers fully rendered.
In 7 Hummingbirds Tutorial 3, the layout is done and I know where I want to put all seven of the hummingbirds. The tree branches are wrapped with honeysuckle vines and loaded with blossoms for the birds.
Now, I can carefully lay in a lite wash yellow background. The reason for this unusually bright background is, that I am wanting to create a bright sunrise through the trees. After laying in this yellow wash I can see my bird locations much better and they are looking right in shape and size.
Our first hummingbird along with his honeysuckle blossom is what I will render next. Once I see him, it feels as though the painting is actually starting to come to life.
Beginning with making a rough sketch of the main characters and general layout of branches I quickly get a good idea of what I am going to do. This is a 22″ x 30″ sheet of Arches watercolor paper (300lb). It is important to not go with heavy pressure when using the pencil because you may want to be able to erase lines lines later on. Some artists don’t erase any lines but I do if I can without hurting the image.