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May Sketchathon! (1 Viewer)

Count me in, hopefully I'll be able to post some wryneck sketches! I'll be sketching up on the hill at the edge of town.
 
You've got a beginner here for the cyber field trip . I paint landscape but need a nudge or rather a massive shove to do some wildlife stuff. Itching to do it but lacking in confidence. I'm visiting Mull and staying on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Scotland during the first two weeks of May - will have sketch book with me and paints and would love to take part.

Dryslwyn
 
Have confidence in yourself Wendy! Your landscapes are fantastic, just consider the birds as feathered landscapes and scribble away, looking forward to seeing how everyone gets on. Doubt I'll be sketching many wrynecks though, now I've seen 'bits' of one through too many branches.
 
Hi Wendy - welcome to the good ship "LackingInConfidence" - we all sail on from time to time!
Sounds like you'll be in an inspirational place for the field trip (don't forget to do some landscapes as well!!!!)
See ya!
 
You've got a beginner here for the cyber field trip . I paint landscape but need a nudge or rather a massive shove to do some wildlife stuff. Itching to do it but lacking in confidence. I'm visiting Mull and staying on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Scotland during the first two weeks of May - will have sketch book with me and paints and would love to take part.

Dryslwyn

That is what this is all about Wendy. Your work would be great, I have no doubt. Its more about getting out there and enjoying the great outdoors really, enjoy!
 
Making final preparations for my week off. Working tonight and then I am off for 8 days. Though Sunday I have to go see a football game I will be out there at dawn on Monday, biro in hand!
Going to spend the majority of the week, if not all of it out on Stockholms Achipelago, a huge area made up of thousands of islands. Will start on Monday on Landsort to the south, famous here for migrants, both seabird and passerine. If the birds are good will stay there until Wednesday afternoon before returning briefly overnight to see the AC Milan v Man. Utd. game. Thurs morning I will be off to Moya, another larger island which is unknown to me but bound to have a lot of birds at this time of year.
I can move on at any stage if birding is bad as there are ferries all over the achipelago. If Landsort is poor I can try nearby Utö which has a good reputation for birds. However there will be no shortage of birds at these sites and who knows what will be in my sketchbooks upon my return. Common birds I am targeting include Redstart, Wheatear and Eider. Hopefully something like Ortolan Bunting, Wryneck, Bluethroat, Red Throated Pipit, White-billed Diver, King Eider or Arctic/Pomarine Skua will give itself up. The best part is just being out there relaxing for a week taking it all in...

Will of course post it all when I get back, on this thread as well as my own. Enjoy it everyone. (Good luck with that Wryneck Nick, they are just arriving here now I gather) Good birds to you all..

Alan
 
I know it's not May yet, but just posting a wryneck sketch in case I don't see any more! Local birders inform me that they'll become very discreet in a matter of days as they settle into the whole breeding thing. Well, I got very lucky with seeing it, perched right in the open next to a path, sadly, I didn't have my 'scope with me as I can't ride a bike with a tripod slung over my shoulder. Through bins, it was just a little too distant to sketch, when I got close enough, it was doing that thing they bloody well love doing, peeping at me for a second before mooning me and flying off (100% of the wrynecks, ie 2, have demonstrated this antisocial behaviour!) Here is the non-mooning part.

The other bird is a nightingale, surprisingly very obliging that morning.

Giving up on the wrynecks, going for the Bonelli's warblers tomorrow, so with my luck, there'll be plenty of Jynx torquilla to sketch!!

Good sketching to everyone, hope you get a few goodies Alan.
 

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Delighted you got one. They really do dissapear in the breeding season though. Easy here until late may and then none until August! Secretive buggers!
Landsort, my destination tommorrow has had Surf Scoter(Major rare here), White Billed Diver(last two mornings passing offshore), 2 Serin, Perigrine, Short Eared Owl and Pom Skua today as well as a lot of passerine migrants. chomping on the bit here....
See you all in a week..............
Best of sketching to you all...


Good sketching to everyone, hope you get a few goodies Alan.[/QUOTE]
 
Good luck Alan - sounds a wonderful place to be visiting. I don't think I'll get time to do the Sketchathon until late in the month (although I'm visiting Hoy for a raptor survey and then a seabird census over the next couple of weeks). I'm going to keep my powder dry for a while yet.
Really looking forward to the drawings (paintings?!) - see ya!
 
On my way tomorrow to Scotland and will do my best to contribute to the sketchathon. Hope to spend a day on Mull with a guide and then we are going on to Loch Sunart for a week. I've had some help from forum members on good places to go for wildlife there so really looking forward. I did a bit of drawing of a heron on my patch over the weekend thought it a good subject to start with as they can stay so still for a long time! Happy sketching and painting to all.

Dryslwyn
 
Flying visit,

Bit depressed at half time in the Man utd semi final....

Back from Landsort and birding was good, got a lifer in the shape of a passing White Billed Diver on an early mornig seawatch, which was very nice indeed. Loads of good birds, see my gallery for the star, a superb Long Eared Owl that sat beside me for 20 minutes in full daylight. Lots of others and sketchbook filling nicely. Off to Måya in the morning for the rest of the wek, will post the lot when I return...
good birding to you all....
 
Glad to hear you had a good day in the field - f**king pity we had a bad day ON it! (I know Ed will be gutted for us !)
Went to Hoy today doing raptor surveys - great place, fabulous weather and no birds (2 Fem H Harriers).
Back to the Premiership, I suppose . . .
 
Glad to hear you had a good day in the field - f**king pity we had a bad day ON it! (I know Ed will be gutted for us !)
Went to Hoy today doing raptor surveys - great place, fabulous weather and no birds (2 Fem H Harriers).
Back to the Premiership, I suppose . . .

At least the league should be good and then we can rub the salt in with regard to the double, though a smarting Chelsea will be well up for it....

Played off the park tonight tho' Liverpool have their work cut out...
 
part 1

United never turned up!

looks like they already finished the season and went on holiday...


Well having had my holiday thought I'd post a few of the results. Please be gentle...

Not being one of the masters that frequent this forum not all these are from life, they kept moving!! I did however have a lot of fun trying and learnt a lot on the way. One thing I didn't learn quickly was which bits to leave out to give a likeness without taking ages over it and trying to make it too detailed. I decided to use photos and to practise I put them together as a slide show with a testing 30 second glimpse then move to the next.
 

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part 2

next 5
 

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part 3

don't worry only one more post to come..

by the way the one with the pheasant was supposed to be a sedge warbler and the one to the right of the black headed gulls was a pochard, before I put pencil on paper anyway.
 

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well Paul, these are showing some excellent potential and a lot of success aswell, lots of different poses and attitudes that show the stone curlews character very well using very few lines. I hope you'll keep on sketching because these rapid-fire sketches are what it's all about.
 
part 4 (and final)

Well there you go that was my holiday, apart from the bit where I was dragged around the shops in the rain.
 

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