Owl color pencil

owl I

color pencil on paper

4" x 6"

DJ Pettitt is a remarkable artist, teacher and photographer. She graciously allowed me to use one of her amazing photos she took of an owl as my reference for this color pencil drawing. I want to try it again as I didn't like my paper choice. I used Fabriano Tiziano cream colored paper. I love the paper for pastels, but for color pencil I found the pattern on the paper distracting and a bear to make it 'go away' by a lot of burnishing. Also, the cream color was not a good choice because of the white on the owl.   I will next try same image with same color pencils, but on vellum.  

I used Prismacolor and my new Polychromas color pencils. Really like the Polychromas! I've always used Prismacolor pencils, but have been hearing good things about the Polychromas. They are oil based with no wax, I need to use them more to really get to know them. 

chickadee in watercolor

Black capped chickadee

watercolor on paper

4" x 4"

I painted a chickadee awhile ago in soft pastels. This one is in watercolor and from a different reference photo.  The first one is an older bird. This one strikes me as a baby or toddler...what are baby birds called?  It's rounder, fluffier...like babies are...I don't know much about birds, but that's how I see it.