Costa Rican Great Green Macaw watercolor

 Costa Rico is a beautiful country, with tropical coasts, misty forests, volcanos and spectacular wildlife.  In 2024 I want on an Audubon birding trip to Costa Rico and was saw an amazing variety of birds.  One particular photo from that trip stood out  as one that needed to be painted.  A Great Green Macaw (Ara ambiguus), that was pertched in the opening of a very large tree.  

Two years later, I finally painted the Macaw.  To the left is the rough draft I used to work out the overall design of the painting and color pallate:

I used Yellow, Red, Blue, Black to make the various shades of grey-green, grey-yellow bark, dark interior of the hole, and the vivid colors of the Macaw.  

Below is the finished painting.  It is almost twice as large, and tightly cropped to emphasize the bird in the hollow.