Coral Cove: Final Illustration

Hi Friends!

After completing my initial rendition of the Ruddy Turnstone (see previous blog post), I felt confident moving on to my final piece. My first step involved sketching each of the birds onto the 14in x 20in sheet of watercolor paper. This step is crucial in determining the correct proportions and placement of the subjects so that the final piece is harmonious. This resulted in a lot of undoing and redoing: erasing and resketching the subjects in different areas or sizes to ensure that the piece as a whole did not have any distracting elements and was balanced.

For this final illustration of the Ruddy Turnstone, I wanted to include multiple perspectives and movements to showcase the slight variation amongst the individuals in a species. This allows for a more comprehensive depiction of the Ruddy Turnstone and, in turn, may facilitate identification. I selected multiple images that I took while visiting Coral Cove and utilized these as references for each illustration.

Once the sketches were finalized, I began working with the watercolor. Similar to the process I described in my previous post, I started with a light wash of brown in areas where the birds had brown feathering and made sure to leave any white areas untouched. I created two variations of the brown color, one for the areas that are in the light and another for shadowed areas. The base brown color was created by mixing Burnt Umber with Yellow Ochre, adding a small amount of Ultramarine Blue to this mixture for the shadowed areas.

I mimicked the texture and shape of the Ruddy Turnstones pattern/feathering by using extremely small, curved brushstrokes. Unlike placing a large wash of color, the individual brushstrokes created the definition necessary to depict the pattern accurately.

To add some details to the white areas, I created a very light gray using Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber. I utilized the same technique of creating short, curved brushstrokes and placed this light gray color to create shadows and mimic the texture and definition of feathers.