For today’s world watercolour month post I decided to follow the trend of late, many blogger friends have painted the most beautiful hummingbirds, for the monthly celebrated draw a bird day, hosted by Laura at create art every day. Now as I missed the day, I decided to step outside the box whilst still following the trend. I have been privaledged to have seen one of these a few years back, on this brief encounter I was so struck by its beauty, and rarity ( you see we don’t get hummingbirds in the uk) that I chased it down the road, assuming someone had lost a prized bird from their collection . Although I have never known anyone to own such a wonderful bird as a pet, what other explanation could there be? Well it disappeared from site, so I went back to my gardening, rushed to tidy away, and get on the Internet, to see firstly if anyone could be missing their bird, or to find that hummingbirds had made it to the uk?? A highly unlikely scenario. Well none of the above situations were found to be true, but what I found was that my sighting was of one of natures imposters, the hummingbird hawk moth, it was amazing, it made my day, and I have never seen one since.
I stepped outside the box twice with this one, as I decided to use my brusho…..um we’ll sort of, you see, although I have a set of brusho ( if you have not heard of or tried it, it is a powder sort of watercolour, in little shaker pots, you can sprinkle and spritz with water, and watch the amazing colours develop or mix with water first and paint as normal). If you have never used brusho before, this is your chance to try something so damn similar, and easy to obtain, you may even have some in the cupboard . I used dylon, clothes dye. It works the same as my brusho, yippee, for once an experiment works.
So this post is all about imposters, just a moth and clothes dye ( oh and a little watercolour as I did not have a very dark shade, or a white in dylon).

Hummingbird hawk moth, using dylon dye to paint with, like brusho A4 140 lb cold press
Brilliant, Rebecca! Beautifully done, and now I just may have to try Brusho or dylon! So glad it worked! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me to Laura, for once a great experimental result, plan to post some swatches later 😀, dylon that is
LikeLiked by 1 person
How brilliant and creative are you Rebecca!!!!! Woohoo!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aww thank you, I like different, well mainly I look for cheaper alternatives, but I always want the same quality, not always easy, he he
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fascinating results Rebecca, and an equally fascinating creature – I had no idea! Great stuff!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apparently there have been many sightings this year in the uk, so you never know, if you see an escaped hummingbird this summer, take a closer look…..when it is hovering fast over a flower, it really does look and sound more bird like, photos do not show its true imposter talent, check out YouTube if you get chance 😀
LikeLike
This is totally new for me 😍 well done friend 👌🏼
LikeLiked by 1 person
Check out brusho online, it does create some amazing effects, I do like it in combination with watercolour or liquid acrylic, and ink. If you like the look and want to try, but can’t get it easily, just find some dylon, voila, you get heaps more in a pack, and my next step is to create some mixes…..today I intend to do some swatches of the dylon, painted, just mixed with water, and sprinkled and spritzed, then I hope to post it on here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
oh wow! Thanks sharing this friend, sure i’ll try this 👍🏼
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fantastic 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
A lucky sighting! Beautifully painted.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It certainly was, I would love to see a real hummingbird one day 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
They are a wonder!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! This is awesome!! What a wild looking creature. Beautifully painted! 😍
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Charlie, a real illusion to be seen in the flesh, or check out you tube of course 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gorgeous moth and a great story :-). And very interesting that you used clothes dye (it looks great!). I’ve never seen a hummingbird hawk moth but I will look it up on YouTube.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Myriam, yes please do look them up on YouTube, so much more realistic to the hummingbird when moving at speed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oo, I just saw one of a hummingbird moth feeding on a thistle. So pretty. I liked that the only sounds in the video were those of nearby birds. The other videos I saw had human soundtracks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, so pleased you have seen the true look of these imposters, pretty amazing really 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Draw a Bird Day July Artwork Assembly (World Watercolor Month 17/31) – Create art every day
I love the idea of something very creative! Well done! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, when a bird is not a bird!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have seen one of these moths myself and they are quite wonderful. You have captured it beautifully
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Jeanette, aren’t they just so superb to see in the flesh, nature is amazing 😀 welcome to my blog x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy to be here.
LikeLiked by 1 person