Shake Your Tail Feathers

/ Jodi

draw a bird day march 8 2016 wren shake your tail feather

Shake your tail feathers!

It’s #DrawABirdDay again with my WordPress friends.

This little wren is shaking it’s tail feathers in honor of Spring approaching, as am I!

This is a very simple 5-minute “study” of sorts in brush strokes using my BRANDY NEW Rekab 320S #2  squirrel hair brush!  Oh what a glorious, lovely brush it is!  This brush came on the recommendation of Debi Riley as her “go-to” brush, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.  Unfortunately, the only place I could find it was in an art store halfway across the world in Australia (where Debi happens to live), called Art Scene.

So order it I did, and then I waited, and waited, and waited.  Patience is not one of my virtues.  It really only took about ten (loooooooooong) days.  I practically hugged Cliff, our mailman, when he brought it last week.  Between my excitement and Charlie’s leaping out to see him, Cliff got the greeting of the prodigal son.  He laughed about my paint brush coming from the other side of the world and my excitement over it, and he spent a minute or two giving Charlie some pets and scratches and a morsel or two of his lunch pretzels (yep – Charlie has weasled his way into Cliff’s heart too!).

I can’t wait to have more time to play with this lovely, wonderful brush, but I am traveling this week for work, so it must wait.  What I was trying to do, however, with this, was to be very deliberate with my brush strokes and create an impressionistic version of a wren.  I love the freedom with this brush to create swooshes and thick washes as well as the tiniest of lines like the feet and beak and even a small dot of an eye.  One brush for every stroke, line, dot, and splash!  Swoon!

Wishing you the simple joys today – like the chirping of a bird…

Springtime weather…

or small gifts like a paintbrush brought by the mailman from the other side of the world…

or nibbles of pretzels and ear scratches from a thoughtful mailman to a loving  dog.

Cherish the moments!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

42 thoughts on “Shake Your Tail Feathers”

  6. Birds are definitely your forté, Jodi, they all have so much personality! I LOVE this one created with your new brush! You have inspired me to dust off my watercolors, and I have been doing some sketches. It is hard for me because I have been painting mostly with acrylic on canvas and glass for years, surfaces that are very forgiving and mistakes can be easily corrected! Watercolor is a whole different media, I find I have to think backwards 🙂
    Jenna

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    • Woohoo. I can’t wait to see your watercolor work ! I’ve been traveling for work so a bit behind. Thanks for your inspiring inspired message. 💜

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  20. Beautiful Jodi !!
    Beautiful, clean and effective handling of this Rekab 320s brush!! You’ve got the knack of it in a flash! excellent 🙂
    no mud, no fiddling. just clean bright washes of color….. very Lovely.

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  21. Now you know I have no artistic experience, so I’m going to ask a stupid question. Is the brush really made of squirrel hair? Either way, I’m glad you found a brush that makes painting an even better experience! You make it look so easy, but I know it’s not!

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  23. Pingback: Draw a Bird Day Roundup for March 2016 | method two madness

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