Halloween Crow

8x8 inks on 140 lb cold press paper done last week, Friday, on Halloween after seeing a crow perched atop a large rock. This was in Alto, New Mexico, on a sunny day. I used black R2 rollerball pen, washable marker, India ink, and Micron 01 pen for this graphic bird art. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Proud Crow

9x6.5 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper, another crow in an ongoing series of the black birds and their habits and habitats. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Rowdy Raven

7x9 mixed media using ink in Elegant Writer pen plus watercolor White Nights paints. This rowdy raven is done in my Master's Touch sketchbook, 80 lb paper, done last week for an online weekend challenge with WetCanvas. COPYRIGHT 2025 Kay Smith

December Crow

5.5x8.5 watercolor on Canson 117 lb cold press paper done a few days past Christmas last month using White Nights paints and one of my old crow references. I stamped various colors of paint onto the background using a torn corrugated cardboard scrap. Later I might use a wet brush and pull some colors out. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2024

Crow Season

8.5x5.5 mixed media (watercolor - White Nights paints, Uniball Signo 207 pen, India ink, Montana acrylic marker) on 80 lb Master's Touch sketchbook done last week. I was inspired by a loud crow who parked himself on our fence in New Mexico. COPYRIGHT 2024 Kay Smith

November Crow

November Crow 6x3 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Grumbacher paper done last week, another in my crow series. Love the black feathers and it is a challenge to paint them with any color but tube black, a no-no in watercolor. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Captivating Crow

5.5x8.5 watercolor using Gansai Tambi graphite paints from Kuretake on Masters sketchbook done yesterday for an online wildlife challenge. The colors show their various hues within the 'black' feathers. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Aspen Raven

5.5x8.5 watercolor using White Nights paint done week before last using same aspen tree as reference I used for a recent cardinal. This raven is scouting out food possibilities from his high perch in this imaginary wildlife scene. COPYRIGHT 2021 Kay Smith

Raven Eye ~ #InkTober2021 day 5

5.5x5.5 ink using Staedtler calligraphic duo pen to sketch, India ink, watercolor, and white gel pen for day 5 of InkTober this year. The prompt was 'raven'. I do paint this bird or crows regularly and particularly like this composition of a side glance. COPYRIGHT 2021 Kay Smith

Crow Caw

8.25x5.25 mixed media in junk journal done over the past weekend, a crow emitting his cawing sound in a bird portrait. I used charcoal to sketch, ink, watercolor, and STA 0.05 pen. When done I added a stamp of a sun/moon upper right. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2021

Busy Crow

6x6 watercolor and ink with Micron 01 pen on Masters sketchbook paper sketched awhile back but color was added today to complete the bird art. This crow looks preoccupied with finding something on the ground. I used all the darks on my palette to create greys and blacks then put a dab of transparent pyrrol orange in the chest area. Splattering was done when dry to add texture to the ground. COPYRIGHT 2021 Kay Smith

Beach Crow

2.75x7.75 watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb hot press paper done over the past weekend for another WetCanvas weekend drawing event.  Participants are given 2 hours to select and complete a painting or sketch of their choice.  Image courtesy Clea.  I cropped most of the beach here to focus on a long horizontal format for this crow.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Clever Crow

9x12 mixed watermedia on Canson 140 lb cold press paper. Using a sheet that I put underneath other works supplied various abstract markings in acrylics, ink, and watercolor.  I took the bird out of his natural environment and placed him here as if snatching morsels of food from his surroundings.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Baby Blackbird

7.5x12 Brusho on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper done yesterday using previous bird sketch in an ongoing series.  Trying out different media and keeping the subject matter the same is a fun way to explore new techniques, especially those you have no expertise with doing.  In this solo bird scene, I used small amounts of watercolor to clearly outline the bird's body as the Brusho was very blurry from using too much water.  For the body, I used black and brown Brusho crystals.  Tomorrow I'll be repeating the bird shape and combining with inks.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith              Email:   1971ks@att.net to purchase via PayPal        Cost:   $195

October Crow on Yupo

12x9 watercolor on medium weight Yupo synthetic paper done today.  This October crow was painted from a WetCanvas RIL image featured in the current weekend drawing event in the All Media Art Events forum.  With black animals or birds I try to see every color nuance within the neutral tones and do the same for white. This fellow had many colors within his graceful feathers.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith            Email:   1971ks@att.net to purchase via PayPal            Cost:   $185

Clever Crow

9x12 mixed watermedia on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today.  Crow reference courtesy Robert Rongier/WetCanvas weekend drawing event.  Using a sheet that I put underneath other works supplied various abstract markings in acrylics, ink, and watercolor.  I took the bird out of his natural environment and placed him here as if snatching morsels of food from his surroundings.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Nevermore Ravens

11x15 watercolor of several different raven poses, inspired by my favorite poet Edgar Allan Poe.  I have posted this image here a few years ago and wanted to see it again these few days between Halloween and December which he mentioned in his poem "The Raven". My friends and family don't know it, but I had memorized his 1845 haunting melancholy verse and it remains one of the best in literature.

Plenty to Crow About

9x12 watercolor on Strathmore 140 lb cold pressed paper; Daniel Smith/American Journey paints., drawn yesterday in 10 minutes or so then painted in 45 minutes, part of a timed exercise on WetCanvas! This weekend drawing event host was Gail Bowers who provided 16 references and a challenge.  The challenge was for us to paint something then make it appear at nighttime, which would be hard to do for a crow being black as the ace of spades! So I made this fellow as colorful as possible so he still reads as a blackbird, but he does appear to be contemplating suicide on this window ledge.  Working only from a black and white image it was a real challenge to make believable with an abstract background as well.