Ken I'll have to keep the "and chicks" in the title then people may actually find them
yellowleg sketches from 4 days ago, the only bird besides a kildeer I saw at Shollenberger.
5x7 oil of mallards at Howath Park, I just finished reading "The Peerless Eye" on the life and work of Liljefors, best book I've read on him, and has a fold out page with his "Eiders in Flight" the 16 foot painting lifesize of these ducks. Also in it was an evening scene on a pond. Since I have a nice lake nearby where I can see this effect I decided to go see, and yep it looks just like his painting, so I decided to try my own...this is in oil, but think I'll try it in watercolor too. There are 2 ducks the one you see in the bright area and one that is in shadow.... so dark against light and pale dark against dark is how it works out...I think I'd like to explore this more.
Went out to Bodega Head to see how the chicks are doing, and it was gale winds and friggen cold, had to lay down to see it was blowing so hard, and could only stand the full wind for a few min even with 2 coats on. ( nice California July summer weather:-O ) I didn't see the chicks only one adult for a short time, hope they are OK:-C I did get to see the gulls fly in that strong wind, easier to draw they never had to flap, just launched themselves into the wind and held steady. Will post the flight sketches later.
Before I got to the Headlands, I stopped at the bay and the bay oc were nicely lined up on the rocks, and stayed there while I drew, and I was only about 20 feet away so I could do it without aids. I plan to try and add a bit of watercolor to this.