Classic Miniature Art - More than little pictures.
Rebecca Latham's watercolors are classically painted miniature paintings. Whether large or small, it's the classical methods of painting refined detail that give miniature paintings their allure.
Rebecca and her family, paint wildlife and nature for the most part. So when they aren't at their easels painting or attending one of their exhibits, there's a good chance that they're out and about researching what they love.
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Rebecca Latham is an international realistic wildlife and nature painter and author working in finely detailed watercolors. Her works range all sizes - all painted in miniature. Represented by Latham Studios. More»
I have never painted a brown pelican before – this is my first. I have completed several small white pelican pieces, however – but the brown seemed to be much more ‘exotic’ in it’s coloring. It was a real treat to paint it.
Being in the near-center of North America, I never saw a lot of these birds until I traveled to the coasts. I have had so many nice opportunities to watch them – especially enjoying their stunning displays as they dive into the ocean fishing. One of my galleries on the East Coast suggested that I paint this one for them…so I did.
I chose this plumage phase of the pelican because of the striking coloring. The colors seemed to compliment each other so well. I posted a cropped image of the head so one can see the fine feathers and texture that are in the painting. (The scans are, however, a bit harsh compared to the original painting.)
The original watercolor was a part of a contemporary miniature show at Decoys and Wildlife Gallery – http://www.decoyswildlife.com and is now in a private collection.
Giclee prints are available of this piece – please drop me an email if you would like to add it to your collection.
This is a painting I completed earlier this year that recently arrived for exhibit at Whistle Pik Galleries in Texas. (I just realized that the painting hadn’t been posted on the blog yet :/ …oops. )
I love painting parrots…and being able to get to see them and watch their personalities. You may already know, most of the time I tend to paint native North American wildlife – but I do break away occasionally to paint the intense colors as in this Blue and Gold Macaw. This painting sat on my easel for a while to be sure the sheen of soft light and varied feather color came out correctly to reflect the softness. It also has a great amount of detail work in all of the feathers and the other areas of texture – very fun to paint. The miniature painting is 9×12 and painted in watercolor on board. Enjoy! – Thanks for dropping by!
Here is another painting (pictured in progress) in my studio. It’s a snowy egret that I was able to watch on the beach catching minnows in Florida earlier this year (see my ‘Bad Hair Day‘ post…). I started the miniature painting during the NatureWorks show in Tulsa…painting in my family’s booth. The painting has been accepted into the Bennington Center For The Arts’ Art of the Animal Kingdom Exhibition this summer.
The painting is titled "Illuminated" – I was struck by what seemed to be an internal glow of light as the bird was fishing. All of the fine feathers reflecting light seemed to ‘illuminate’ and glow… It seemed to shimmer…as did the little minnows that he pulled out of the ocean. …I had such a fabulous time watching him (and just enjoying the whole environment during my stay…thanks to my friends who put up with me running around to see everything and snapping photos… )
I’ve had some requests to post more of my sketches and works-in-progress on my blog…so here’s another painting that is sitting in the studio… This is a work-in-progress – a barn owl portrait that will debut at th Moosehorn Gallery in Montana. They are having a large event this summer and (…if everything goes well on this piece… ) this will be one of my paintings in their summer show.
This is a new miniature I painted that went to England for a miniature art exhibit. It is a finch with apple blossoms and is a little smaller than 4×6. My Dad has some awesome flowering fruit trees that I love …which inspired this painting… (I have ’spring fever’ -I’m really wishing for spring around here to look like spring. :p )
The little bird isn’t life-sized…which I really would have loved to paint him (I love painting things life-sized and the challenge to make them look like they will walk off my artboard ). The piece was painted to be shown in this exhibition which has an image area limit, and he had to be arranged compositionally in the painting with the flowers…this was the most pleasing arrangement that I came up with.
I really would like to paint the concept as a 6×8 or a little larger sized miniature so that I would have more space for everything… (Maybe the next painting… lol!)
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(I have ’spring fever’ -I’m really wishing for spring around here to look like spring.
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