Pieces of Eight Art Challenge - The Raven

This month's challenge is for everyone to paint a black bird without using any black paint. I never really thought about how many black birds there are--blackbirds, ravens, grackles, crows--but I called this challenge The Raven because I simply like the way he quoth "Nevermore." However, any black bird will get the job done. Here is mine:

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I used French Ultramarine and Alizarin Crimson for my blacks, with a touch of Burnt Sienna now and then. This bird was in bright sunlight that caught the beautiful colors on top of his body and tail.

Carmen

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Kathy Garvey

I've been working on the crow challenge, a lot! But not so much with paint. Here's my favorite - showing the original photo (taken by my brother Pat when we visited the Everglades several years ago) and the final after a little trip through Photoshop. I'll post some of the others at a later time.

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For our Raven challenge this month I did two pieces.  My first piece was a collage and that will be posted on Saturday.  At the last minute I decided to do an oil.  I haven't done any real painting in quite a while and  thought it was about time. So...here is my first attempt to jump back into oils.
 My crow is little abstract, a little bluer then I would have liked but that is because I forgot to bring a rich purple with me but that's o.k.  The whole point is to get in there again and just do. He is also a little undone and that is o.k. too.  I would rather he be undone than overworked. 
He does have a dilemma though.  That is a peanut M&M in his beak.  It is dissolving oh so slowly but what happens when he gets to the peanut?

oh oh



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Fay Picardi

Although I don't know how to tell the male Raven from the female, I have decided that my raven is definitely a female, mainly because she has such beautiful colors and she sparkles. I am happy with her, but I am not crazy about her background. I tried to use yellow-bright green as they are opposite colors on the color chart but I really didn't have the right materials on hand. So I am calling the collage Nothing to Crow About because I chose to do a raven instead of a crow and I am not so happy about her background. 

Nothing to Crow About  by Fay Picardi



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For this little portrait of a Florida anhinga, I used purple and dark green for my blacks.

Mary Warnick



Guests for Dinner, 24x18 Oil on Canvas by Carmen Beecher

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This Wood Stork is calmly looking over the Spoonbills feeding in Mrazek Pond in the Everglades. The Wood Stork puts his bill underwater and waits for his prey, then his beak snaps shut at lightning speed, 25 milliseconds. This is known as grope-feeding. The Wood Stork has one of the fastest reflexes of any vertebrate.

This was just sold by the Brevard Cultural Alliance (BCA) at the Melbourne Airport. We artists are so lucky to have the BCA and Lynne Brezina.

Carmen