I like to paint at least one hummingbird watercolor painting each year, and this one came in right under the wire for 2015.

Here are a few pictures of my Hummingbird and Clematis watercolor painting in process. For the initial planning,  I used reference photos taken of clematis flowers, leaves, and hummingbirds from my garden in the summer. I did a detailed drawing on translucent vellum paper, and transferred it to my watercolor paper before starting to paint.

I chose my colors and tested them on a scrap piece of watercolor paper. I painted the background using a negative painting technique.  I began painting the clematis petals, in the photo below to the right.

I finished the process off by painting final details over the course of several days.

The finished painting:

I’ve made some changes to this painting, and so here is the updated, finished painting. I added more blueish greens to the background, and varied the purple tones in the clematis flowers. I toned down the light behind the hummingbird, as well. I happy with the results. The flowers look realistic while the leaves continue to have a more surreal quality to them.