Happy 2015!

So, this being a new year (Happy 2015!!) I have decided to try something totally different for a blog post to start the new year.  Hopefully I'll get around to blogging about our Christmas and New Year's Eve adventures later, but one thing I started doing this fall was watercolor painting again.  I am taking a class through the "Volkshochschule" (kind of like taking adult classes offered through the city/school district in the US) which is sort of amusing since the class is mostly a bunch of retired German women, but it is a good excuse to make art again.  I think I will try to keep painting after the class ends, but probably won't sign up for the class again in the spring.

BUT enough rambling, instead I am just going to show you pictures of all the paintings I've made.

This was the first painting I made.  I was playing with different techniques and colors, which was interesting. Very different from painting with Acrylics/Oils, which I am more used to.

This is a European Robin, and is the first "real" painting I made.  I made it for Sasha's brother. But I was fairly pleased with the way the painting turned out for it being my first "real" watercolor painting since high school.

Hey look, not a bird!  This is based on a picture I took in the Dolomites.

This is a blue tit, which is a Blauemeise in German, and was a secret santa present.  I really like how the branch turned out,  (it looks better in person) although the bird's head shape is a bit too broad, and I don't love the top right corner.

These are a pair of bee eaters, and they are for a friend's birthday in a few months.  The back bird is a bit too big, but overall, I feel OK with the way it turned out.  Sshh...it is a secret! (I'm not very good at keeping secrets).

This is for Sasha, because Southern Cassowary is one of his all-time favorite birds.  I really like the head, although am not super satisfied with the black feathers.  Tons of black is hard to make look good.

OK, I'll admit that most of the paintings are from internet photos, but what can I say, I'm not Sibley or Audubon.  This is for fun, not my job (although I might take commissions upon request, family).  Who knows, maybe I'll graduate to more complicated things like landscapes one of these days.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the change of pace, and I hope the new year brings you wonderful things.