Smitty, 10 x 10 Acrylic on Canvas

Smitty is one of my "go to" hummingbirds to paint. He was once a reference photo that I used, and now he is created from my imagination. There are small variations with each version that may not be obvious (or areas that I always try to work on and improve). I've heard many times in workshops/ classes that one of the best way to improve as an artist is through repetition of the same thing. This allows you to experiment and not worry so much about what the final outcome is and you can compare what each small change does to the overall piece. For example this guy has a dark Magenta ground (or base layer) vs. my typical transparent red oxide.