Arizona Songbirds Coloring Book Art

This is the second design I chose to play with from the previous coloring book.  The fanciful birds were painted to represent songbirds native or migrant to Arizona.
Birds painted included: Yellow Warbler, Western Tanager, American Goldfinch, Vermillion Flycatcher, Red Faced Warbler and Painted Redstart.
I resisted the temptation to add more birdies such as Verdin and Hummingbirds!

Arizona Spring. Adapted from Eleri Fowler's charming coloring book Joyous Blooms to Color.

It was a simple, no thinking painting that was relaxing.  I enjoyed puttering through my bird books to pick my bird colors. Warm brights for the birds and flowers, cool blues, greens for the leaves.
The painting is embellished with lots of gold, just on the leaves as I played with the metallics. It looks pretty, shimmering in the light. Watercolors on watercolor paper.

Bee Flower Wreath Coloring Book Art

Sometimes, when I have a lot going on or just freeze, I go to a super simple project to kickstart myself.
Last year a friend gave me a coloring book that I had admired and I finally took a couple of the designs to color, adding more line work.  Art without much planning, just doing.  I tucked in more flowers and embellished the painting with gold and silver (wings, seed heads).
 I loved getting lost in painting the extra flowers, playing with metallics, using my vintage flower book from my days in the UK.  Watercolor painting on Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper. Image was copied onto heavier paper.

Bee Wreath watercolor. Adapted from Eleri Fowler's charming Joyous Blooms to Color

When I think back, I can still smell the sweet pea flowers I added along with colorful poppies, leaves.

Color By Number Hummingbird Class

Here is the design for the May 4 coloring class at Kirk-Bear Canyon Library which will have a simple animal color by number.

The design has a few numbered areas that will help understand shading for beginners. Especially in the feather areas. There will be a walk though demo, step by step showing what colors to layer where.

The hummingbird design is available at the Pima County Library in a bilingual coloring book I illustrated for the Tucson Botanical Garden years ago called My New Backyard Garden.

Student materials:
• Quality colored pencils
• Watercolors or watercolor pencils
• Couple of small brushes #1 & #2  or a fine to medium water brush.
• Enthusiasm and a smile!

Rose Rainbow

This design is a repeat type from a coloring book I actually bought. Most of the books out there don't appeal to me At All, but this one did for a few designs.  It's called Joyous Blooms. I know part of the appeal was the flowers and quotes, which I love.

It was fun to experiment with for watercolor on the Bristol Vellum. To see how much water the paper could take before deteriorating or buckling too much. Overall it did surprisingly well. Good for student practice. Below are materials used for this project.







Materials for Watercolor Pencil Session April 6, 5:30 - 7:30:
• Watercolor pencils or watercolor set.
• Water brush and or 2 brushes: #1 round brush, #2 round brush. Synthetic.
• Colored Pencils
• Clipboard or other board to tape your project onto.

A 5x7" design will be provided. Pencil sharpeners will be available for use.
Aaron Brothers, Michaels, Jo-Anns, Sarnoffs are resources for the materials.
Call or go online to their websites to make sure they have them in stock.