Watercolor Painting of the Week: “Rainy Day Rufous” by Lorraine Watry
Lorraine Watry is an award-winning watercolor artist and a Signature member of the National Watercolor Society, Transparent Watercolor Society of America, and American Women Artists among others. Lorraine’s watercolor paintings of wildlife, landscapes, glass, and metal, depict quiet moments full of light and color. She enjoys passing on her knowledge of watercolor through teaching. Connect with Lorraine at www.lorrainewatrystudio.com.
“This little Rufous Hummingbird was spotted in my backyard enjoying a quick shower in the rain,” said Lorraine. “He was not bothered by the downpour. Instead, he fluffed out his feathers and looked like he loved getting wet!
“This painting was produced with a technique I had not tried before – dripping water. While the background was still damp, I dripped water from the top of the color to make rivulets that give the feeling of rain on a window. This technique was combined with lifting to create raindrops.
“I used very granular colors in the background for an interesting texture around the feisty hummingbird. The in-focus, realistic hummingbird and water droplets are a nice contrast to the soft-focus background.”
Artist Statement:
I always notice how light touches the edge of an object, the unusual shapes in reflections, and the fantastic harmonies or contrasts of color. The casual observer may miss these subtle nuances of the world around us. My artistic mission is to try and depict the elusive or unrecognized moments of beauty in nature and everyday things.
Watercolor is my preferred medium. The transparent paint allows light to reflect off the surface of the white paper, which makes the colors glow. I enjoy the challenge of creating a realistic subject while dealing with water and color, which often have minds of their own. Though I don’t paint like Claude Monet, his use of color, light and reflections helped inspire my own love of those subjects. I paint a variety of subjects, but a theme of reflective, shiny objects runs throughout a lot of my watercolors. Reflective objects like water, birds’ feathers, glass, and metal hold a fascination for me. I am drawn to the unusual, abstract shapes that are often found in realistic subjects. These abstract shapes are a nice counterpoint to a bird, band instrument, or waterlily.
I continue to paint a variety of subjects, but currently, birds in water and shiny hummingbird wings are of particular interest. Showing the beauty of nature and other subjects around me will continue to be a never-ending source of challenge and joy!
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