Frozen hockey moment painted blue—parrots steal the show

Описание: This watercolor painting was inspired by a rare winter moment at a local frozen lake. Seeing young people playing ice hockey on such thin ice was a sight I had to capture. Using a single photo as a reference, I created this piece with a minimal color palette, letting deep blue tones express the cold, the silence, and the unique winter light.

In this video: You can watch the entire process as a watercolor timelapse—somewhere between a tutorial, speed painting, and a relaxed "paint with me" session. My focus wasn't on strict realism, but on capturing the mood: the soft, translucent ice shifting between blue and teal, and the dynamic energy of figures moving across the surface.

The Contrast: This piece is built on contrasts: pale ice against dark clothing, a still landscape against lively motion, and calm against energy. It’s less about technical perfection and more about the feeling of cold air and the joy of play.

An Unexpected Twist: During the process, my neophema parrots decided it was dinner time! The studio turned into a bit of chaos, which you can see toward the end of the video.

Whether you’re looking for painting inspiration, winter landscape ideas, or just a quiet story told through watercolor, I hope you enjoy this process.

I would be afraid to go onto a lake like that—I would be scared of breaking through the ice. It is not just a feeling; it really does happen sometimes when the ice is not strong enough or is frozen unevenly.

Video content:
00:00 Start of the painting
01:38 The birds arrive
01:59 Final artwork

In the watercolor painting you can see a group of young people playing hockey on a frozen lake in the middle of a winter landscape, where the ice has soft blue-green tones and is in places lit up by light, as if it were thin and translucent. The figures are arranged in a circle, as if a fast and lively action were taking place, and each player is caught in a different movement—one is about to shoot, another is defending, another is just watching the puck. They are dressed in darker winter colors, which contrast with the pale ice and the light background. In the distance you can see clumps of dry grass by the shore, suggesting the quiet of winter nature, while on the ice there is movement, energy, and the joy of playing together. The whole painting feels calm and dynamic at the same time—like a memory of childhood, winter, and spontaneous joy from playing outdoors.

While I was painting, our three neophema parrots appeared and decided to have their dinner. I did not mind at all—on the contrary, near the end of the video there is almost a creative frenzy, as the little birds create restlessness and commotion around the table with their movements. If they had dipped their tails into the paint at that moment, a completely new, purely accidental abstract watercolor painting might have been created. Who knows how many millions it could be sold for.

#watercolor #painting #art

Lubica Vesela | Watercolor Art