Toucan Watch

Watercolor

13"x16"

$150.00

I took this photo at an bird habitat in Banson, MO. I put this on my desktop as wallpaper and created a shortcut on my desktop to the picture. The shortcut was mistake. The photo was deleted and the shortcut was useless. Not being able to print this one, I ended up photoing the computer screen.

When I went to Florida with this painting in tow it got a nasty scratch across the belly. It showed up on the white and would would look worse if paint were to be applied. I eventually started to grove the paper with the back of a chiseled brush to simulate feathers. The embossing actually disguised the scratch.

I have an attitude with a painting that I believe is dead. I can do anything to them, because a dead painting cannot be killed. There is nothing to loose, being really creative begins. An artist is a problem solver.

The background is done with paint being put down on a wet surface. After that dried I lifted paint out to create the impression of foliage. As always there was not much information in the black. Photos are that way. I downloaded images of other toucans from the Internet to give me help.

This painting was punched out to enter in the Finley River Competition, wild animals as a theme. I had been stewing over this one for more than a year. It is good how a deadline can get some paintings off the board. I was shocked that this won Best of Show. I nearly spit my coffee out with they announced it at a meeting.

This bird got painted because of the colors in his beak and eye. It is now hanging in our condo in Florida, and my sister loves it and is probably trying to figure out how it could could come to live at her house.

When photographing this one for printing, the lighting must be angled to catch the grooves. I think I got the right photo. We'll see when I fire up the giclee printer.