I thought I would share with you the pastel layout of the very large hummingbird painting I have started here in Tucson. I have named him "Achilles" and chose to paint a hummingbird on my few months off for a few reasons. First, because I was given a dead specimen of a Ruby throated a few years back and am able to view it under the microscope just as I do the insects I paint, second, because of the irredescence challenge as I face with many of the insect subjects, and third because a large part of a hummingbird's diet is insects. Most people, unless they are ornathologists or birders don't know this about hummingbirds. I have had the opportunity to watch many species in the wild over the past year in my travels, have photographed them and also been able to obtain information from the specialists. So this fall, I am painting "Achilles", the name does have special meaning, as I will reveal over the next months of progress the story of "Achilles and Hector", as the image completes itself....stay tuned.
2 comments:
I worked at a green house for two years and in the spring thousands of
hummingbird would feed on the hanging flowering baskets as the crew carried five in each hand out to the trucks.
The hummingbirds would hover inches from our faces and then change direction. Your pastel reminds me of that mid-flight correction frozen in time.
the first hummingbird I ever saw in real life was in my garden. I mistook it for an insect (large bee)and only his flight made me realize it was a hummingbird and not an insect.
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