Sue's work in progress

When you take a look at our AvesInArt website, you don't see much in Sue's gallery.  I'm trying to fix that - I've selected a few birds from our trip to Florida to paint.  First up is the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, one of my favorites from the trip. 

paper cut-out of the woodpecker

I've spent a huge amount of time working on the layout of the painting, where to put the birds, where to put the tree trunk, a branch with cones and needles.

The habitat for this bird is narrowly defined, so I'm placing it in the Longleaf Pine forest, with its savannah-like grassland dotted with Saw Palmetto.  Jorge's photos of the woodpecker and my landscape and plant photos will provide reference material.

Okay, so here are some "work-in-progress" snapshots of my fairly large watercolor painting.  As I add more to the composition, I'll post again - keep in touch!

My workspace.

Pine forest - savannah habitat.  I tried to capture the distant early morning haze.

Serenoa repens, (Saw Palmetto) the native palmetto of the pine forest.  I'm trying to simplify the growth habit, while still maintaining accuracy - when it works for me, I'll add it to the foreground of the painting.

Starbucks Show!!

Jorge and Sue after the installation at Starbucks on February 1st.

The AvesInArt show at Starbucks is up and the photos and paintings look great.  Beside each image is a small range map showing the distribution of each species, and on the right side we have posted a legend with some general text about birds of the Himalayan foothills.

If you're in the neighborhood stop by and enjoy the show!
Does the Starbucks near you have gallery space?  Let us know and we'll see if we can keep the exhibit going there... ah, within a reasonable distance of home base here in Connecticut.