House sparrows sitting on aspen part 2, the background

Hello my dear friends, thank you so much for coming here to watch and paint or watch only the second part with the aspen. Just want you guys to know I talked about my foot a lot and it is almost completely well. Still had a hard time wearing sneakers but I managed to find an old pair that I can wear and be able to use for exercise. It sure was not fun going on walks with round toes flats. Now I have learned to be very careful with a cleaver, don’t put it too close to the edge of the counter. Probably going to wear croc when it can take that and wear that when I am working with sharp objects.

Today is third day of Chinese New Year, tradition is that we don’t visit anyone. No families visit or friends or even enemies. Because we will definitely get into a fight. So in Hong Kong where I grew up, the street are lacking in people. Mainly people who want to go see things or buy things, but no visiting families. This was particularly a hard day for me while growing up. I guess I am very attached to families and friends, and the third day of New Year was always very boring to me. My daughter and I did a google search and found some hardcore traditions, that tonight, according to the Lunar calendar, the rats are out reproducing, so we are even supposed to turn off the light to not give them enough light to find each other, I will definitely do that. Not that we have rats problems, but in the spring when the snow melts, I had seen mice tunnels on the snow before. In our neighborhood we definitely have enough cats around, and they are very big and agile, and I know they hunt. So I put up with them for that fact that they will scare the mice off, and also the squirrels. When I have a min or two, I am definitely going to put out a pine cone with some peanut butter and bird seeds for some birds. I know there are probably plenty of things around to eat, but this will help the reproduction of the birds, they particularly need the fat to help them. And I am counting on the cats around to help with squirrel’s problems. We will see, if the cats do not do their job, I will have to cease the feeding of birds. I hope to see some exotic ones in a month or so. Then we can paint them. We will have so much fun. But after this post I will get ready to do the lucky duckling and film that as that would be my next project.

So for this background painting, when you watch the video, you will hear me say ok let’s control myself and not put too much details on the aspens. As artist I always try to keep that in mind, even though the object is of a sort of beauty, I still have to keep reminding myself to not let my joy of painting them run away with me. But, if you are excited about aspens, I am already working out a painting in my mind. I found a good frame for that in the thrift store, and with more research and fun looking at more images, it will come to pass for sure. Meaning I will make a video of aspens for us to paint together. Where my husband and I go hiking in the Provo Canyon, we drive by a big big area of aspen trees, and everytime I am so captured by their beauty. I will definitely stop the car when I drove by next to absorb the beauty and the environment and take some pictures. I think for art, it is good to be able to do so, not only look at picutres, but try to be in the beautiful environment and that feeling we will try to remember as we paint. And somehow the feeling will be communicated into the painting. Or at least we try. With the lucky duckling, I remembered I was thinking about looking for clovers in our yard with my children, as we have many clovers patch. And try to find for four leaves one, I don’t remember if we ever found one, but the time spending together in the hot summer day, I still remembered. And the joy and fun we had together bring back happy memories. As you know they are both grown and happily married, but those memories are magical to me.

Ok, so as for the color, it was very simple. My traditional green color mix, perylene green, indigo, cadm yellow light, payne’s gray. And my brush list will be the same as the sparrow part of the painting. I could really have used bigger brush when I was doing the green background, but most of the time I got so carried away with the fun of painting I forget to change to bigger brushes. So it all works, don’t be too worried about the size of brushes, unless you felt annoyed with the lack of paint, as you saw that happened to me quite often. Then I will usually change or compelled to change brushes. And the paper is arches watercolor cold press 140 lbs, and the size is 4 inches by 12 because of the frame I got from the thrift store. And I will promise in the very near future show you a pic of after I distressed it and how I display the painting.

Thank you again. Come visit me often and be sure to subscribe to my channel and like my video so I can have feed back on how I do. Of course writing a comment or so to me will be well made my day. Keep those brushes wet no matter what. love, Kathy