I took an online watercolor workshop by artist Liz Clayton Fuller that was offered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It sped by, and at the end I had completed painting a female Belted Kingfisher. I haven’t used watercolor much in the past several years, so I was pleased with the end result although my brush skills are pretty awful.

I’ve never done an online class before, and I have a feeling it was huge. By the time I registered, there were over 300 others who had already signed up. Before the class started, I sketched the bird to get a feel for it, and I also did a sampling of my palette to remember what colors I had available.

I have a combination of Daniel Smith (tubes and sticks) and M. Graham watercolors. By far my favorites are Daniel Smith watercolor sticks. Such bright, pure pigments. If I ever return to watercolor painting, I’ll switch over to those.

The next day I did a very quick watercolor sketch of the same image, trying to recall the basics from the lesson. Lots of light layers lead to a dimensional effect was what I came away with. It’s a good test of my patience. This image was a bit more cute than the other. I prefer the one I completed during the class, but it was a good challenge to try it again.