Belted Kingfisher

I have been making a slow return to the studio, I can’t stand in the wood shop for very long so I pulled out some water colors and old field study photos of birds.

The Belted Kingfisher has always been a favorite of mine. Funny little dive bombers that makes a rattle sound as they fly. This is one of very few birds that the female has more color than the male. The male does not have the rusty brown band, so you can see I have painted a female.

The kingfisher builds a nice little burrow in the ground near water.  And because of people digging gravel pits and opening dirt banks the kingfisher’s population has grown every year, good news for once.

 This is the finished watercolor with pen and ink.

This one I did first with acrylics and some paper elements.  I would like to try making one with fabric. This may end up as the great Belted Kingfisher study.