"Wake in the morning with a winged heart, and give thanks for another day of loving."
— KAHLIL GILBRAN

Hummingbirds are one of the most beautiful creatures on this planet. The color of their feathers have such a dynamic range - there are so many different types and colors of hummingbirds, which I came to realize more as I was hunting for image references. I love the symbolism behind hummingbirds. They represent adaptability and flexibility, simultaneously reminding us to hunt out the best that life has to offer, each and every day, much like the hummingbird is always on the hunt for the most sweet and delicious nectar. It is said to be a good omen if such a beautiful friend finds his way to you.

The lily is another great symbolism - representing purity, freedom after death with a restored innocence. This seemed so fitting beyond it representing something she loved, but in her transition from one essence of being to the next. I chose the stargazer lily, they are stunning flowers and was my grandfather's favorite, which of course, now that he has passed has become MY favorite. (I love you Papooh!)

Since being out of college, I just don't really have the best set up for pulling out my old oils, brushes and turpentine (nor can my poor head take it much any more - I get terrible migraines from the chemical fumes at times). So, for this piece I wanted to go digital. I have been doing some digital painting over the past several years with my trusty Wacom tablet. I unfortunately can't quite yet afford the nice Cintique Model, but honestly, I have trained my coordination with it just fine and I haven't been disappointed having it to work with by any means.

Digital painting is so liberating too.. the fear I used to have at times when creating for assignments, etc. was that at any moment you made a mistake, sometimes there was no going back - you just simply had to start over. Heaven forbid that happen in the last few hours before you were "done." With digital I love that you can explore different things, see how it looks, and if you don't like it simply delete it without destroying the rest of the piece that you love. BRILLIANT! It really is just freaking awesome.

I decided to break this up and have saved images of each stage of the work as I painted so as to give you some insight into my process - and there is even a gif animation of the painting showing the entire build for those who make it to the end!

So, to get stared I created a new document in Photoshop with the size settings of 20x24 at 300 DPI. I selected a nice light coffee color as my base background layer and with a new layer above that I sketched out my subjects (each on their own layer) and and set up my composition.

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing the process behind my painting. All in all there were probably about 4 sittings of 3-4 hours each for the hummingbird and I painted the flower in about two 8 hour days over the weekend.

As always, if you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts, please leave me a comment below!

Until next time my dear friends, STEEM ON!

with love, — @j-vo

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