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Hey Colleen!

Black Woodpeckers are about crow-sized. Mysterious birds who always want to tell you, they were in Europe, before humans came out of Africa. The forests belong to them, not you!

I am always in awe of them. But have to go to Poland to re-connect with them.

My friend's little girl could call one up with a perfect impersonation, any time.

(Like high-pitched rapid machine-gun fire rounds....)

They hate her. She is the Czarna Dzieczol Kziezniczka!

The "Black Woodpecker Princess!"

Am so glad you help out at this rescue centre! Hero!

Am "cat-sitting" for my partner, while she is in Spain.

Tonight I was delivered a sick adult Eurasian Greenfinch, which I was able to gently pick up, and give a night's protection to.

It was feeding before roosting. I hope it makes it through the night.
 
Hope it does.

A great sketching opportunity before I release it.

In the meantime...more notebook sketches from the 90s...

A good "twitch". Travelling down by train from Bristol, England. To Portland Bill, Dorset, England for the Woodchat. Which I connected with immediately. The Short-Toed Lark took over 4 hours to find. Mixed in with Skylarks, and Linnets. I was impressed with my own tenacity, but still, to this day, with this painted sketch.

These rough sketches will always represent a very special day for me.

And I got a taxi back from the train station. Just in time to celebrate at my local pub. B :) ;)
 

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Not surprised the sketches bring back the moment Phil, terrific fieldwork.

The black woody is a lovely painting, colours particularly, but my fave would have to be the grebe, spot on capture of the suspicious look they always give you!

Mike
 
Phil, Yet more days in the field superbly chronicled. I adore the woodchat shrike in particular. Have you thought about putting all these in one book (or several volumes!)? What wonderful reading they would make.


Russ
 
Phil...i am constantly impressed with your work!

I just looked at your latest offerings....and that black woodpecker is well wacky!
What struck me most was the way you've designed/complimented the tree trunks and dark background to the birds coloration...it just all 'fits/works' so well...great stuff!

And just a little story, if i may on your thread...re twitching woodchat shrikes...all art related...[i'll make it quick then buger off]!

As a younger twitcher my first woodchat was at Sizewell power station in 1980...[we saw the bird obviously]...and later...in Richard Millingtons 'A Twitching Diary' a black n white illustration appeared. Now, i love the book and know Richard to be a very nice chap...but...he'd not actually illustrated how the bird looked for the book...the glaring feature that rattled my cage for many years was that he'd given it a white basal patch to the primaries....which the bird hadn't got! No big deal tho...but it was the prompt to make me submit the record.

So, as a last note...the upshot was....it was the 'Badius' sub species of Woodchat...[which has now been accepted by the rares committee].....

ps...think i may have sketched the wing pattern at the time...not sure...but whatever....the point is 'observation' at all times..and you do that so well....so there...:t:
 
Phil, Yet more days in the field superbly chronicled. I adore the woodchat shrike in particular. Have you thought about putting all these in one book (or several volumes!)? What wonderful reading they would make.


Russ


yes!!!

infact, how about a 'BF art book' which we all put pictures in? Derry, Baber Wootton and all the rest (don't remember any other surnames sadly!) one book! Bird artists around the world will be quaking in their boots!
 
Hey!

This a free book here! (I don't know what people download in there own homes? ;))
Actually I'm far too old to be in any kind of a book Gropper! Maybe The Bible perhaps.... ;)

Ah! Millington! Love his stuff! A great observer yes!

Thanks for the much appreciated comments my friends...

Bad news! The Greenfinch passed away in the night.:-C
But it died safe from cats and foxes and rats, on a warm bed of fresh grass, with a full stomach. I was happy about that. (I initially retrieved it from some ivy on top of a wall, which local predators use as a thoroughfare.)

Here's a photo of the gorgeous plumage and her temporary hospice.
It was an adult female, with a well developed brood patch. Not a sign of any injury. She just seemed exhausted, and very weak. I think the breeding season just wore her out.
Oodles of baby Greenfinches on the feeders. So she must've done well. I buried her beneath the feeders. Close to her favourite restaurant! :t:
 

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Yes, anyone could make their own personal book off this forum, by saving your favs. If I did that, it would be a very thick book

the little finch color is beautiful in the photo, so must have been really glowing in person.


love the story of the 4 hours in the field after a specific bird, a real twicher, I on the other hand am a total imposter, I just watch what shows up, hopefully a short walk from my car:)
 
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poor little thing!:-C

still, you gave it a wonderful send-off Phil, she's probably looking down on you from the feeder in the sky right now!
 
Yes, anyone could make their own personal book off this forum, by saving your favs. If I did that, it would be a very thick book

the little finch color is beautiful in the photo, so must have been really glowing in person.


love the story of the 4 hours in the field after a specific bird, a real twicher, I on the other hand am a total imposter, I just watch what shows up, hopefully a short walk from my car:)

I don't mind anyone downloading anything I put up, for their own purposes! But I have to state that I in no way encourage the downloading of anyone else's. Unless, of course, they also don't mind.

That'll save me getting into trouble! ;)

Oh! And I'm no twitcher Colleen! But if it's got a pulse I'll tick it off!
Nobody here is an imposter! We're all beginners here, because we can never stop learning. And we'll never know everything about birds!:cat:

And Liam? What happened to the Chough avatar?

PS Back to the "art" theme? A couple of old line drawings...(Hobbies seem to be popular at the moment! ;))
 

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Hope it does.



These rough sketches will always represent a very special day for me.

One of the beauties of field sketching Phil, the evocation of days in the field. I think this is one reason I prefer them over almost any other type of bird art. They're just always evocative, like capturing a little bit of being outside in an amazing world.
 
And Liam? What happened to the Chough avatar?

QUOTE]

I found something even more beautiful than a Chough dear boy, a male Whinchat! and it is where the 'winch' comes from so I thought it would be appropriate! and it is a drawing, not a photograph, which I think says more about my general preferences for capturing the moment! of course this is too much to be saying in response to your question but I dislike unanswered questions!:smoke:
 
And Liam? What happened to the Chough avatar?

QUOTE]

I found something even more beautiful than a Chough dear boy, a male Whinchat! and it is where the 'winch' comes from so I thought it would be appropriate! and it is a drawing, not a photograph, which I think says more about my general preferences for capturing the moment! of course this is too much to be saying in response to your question but I dislike unanswered questions!:smoke:

A "Winchatar". Ah ha! The plot thickens! B :)

Just wondering if that Chough, if it was one, was from a series you took in Wales? If so, maybe we could see your "holiday snaps" on your thread? ;)

PS Did you bag the Marmie?
 
A "Winchatar". Ah ha! The plot thickens! B :)

PS Did you bag the Marmie?

Just wondering if that Chough, if it was one, was from a series you took in Wales? If so, maybe we could see your "holiday snaps" on your thread? ;)

you would be most correct Phil. Criminally I haven't put any Chough ideas on paper save a few scrappy sketches done in the car driving through Anglesey. Watch this space!:smoke:
 
Can't wait to see results Liam!

I don't know whether you've "gripped me off", or "gropped me off" with that Marmora's? (Margaret's, as in "Thatcher's" Warbler??)

Glad you saw it though! ;)

And...

More from the back catalogue....
(Yawn!)

Red-Backed Shrike (male), drawn up from sketches, Zlotoria, Poland. A common Summer bird here.

Hawfinches (unfinished wings/feet/tail, other details, also unfinished left bottom background. Also, everything here not yet complete yet!): Willsbridge, England. Winter 08/09.
 

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Hey Phil,
How old are the line drawings? Superb stuff, particularly the crossbills, which are the great birds in their own right. These remind me of some rather old, but none the less brilliant BB line drawings. Questions, questions yet again, my friend: any particular pen and paper used for these? I have a couple of cheapo technical pens, but would you need to splash out on some posh Rotring? The more I look at line drawings, the more I feel I should try an do some. Another thing, how come the paper of your note books didn't disentegrate with the watercolour? Was it your supremely deft touch and measured technique?!

I love the Hawfinch, too - like crossbills, another finch with the x factor.

Keep 'em coming, including more line drawings, please.

Russ
 
wowza, again these are bizinantrostic (very very good!). However, I have to agree with user, how did you avoid the bleed that plagued my earlier watercolour sketchbook, especially when these pages look even thinner? But back to art, that head on Hawfinch is whatever-word-I-said-before, the eyes and beak especially down to a tee. The Redback is also exceptional, one of my favs easily, just because they are such a beautiful bird and you've captured that beauty so well! as usual you drew it with very clean and crips lines, filled in the background extremely tight to the subject and deftly added a bit of depth into the back of the painting, all of which makes it just leap off the page! Amazing!:clap:
 
Hey Phil,
How old are the line drawings? Superb stuff, particularly the crossbills, which are the great birds in their own right. These remind me of some rather old, but none the less brilliant BB line drawings. Questions, questions yet again, my friend: any particular pen and paper used for these? I have a couple of cheapo technical pens, but would you need to splash out on some posh Rotring? The more I look at line drawings, the more I feel I should try an do some. Another thing, how come the paper of your note books didn't disentegrate with the watercolour? Was it your supremely deft touch and measured technique?!

Russ

Hi Russ,

The line drawings are from the 90s (can you see the sepia tint at the pages edges?) The Hobby is somewhere in an issue of Birdwatch, and the Avon Bird Report. At least twice!
They were drawn with a combination. Rotring Rapidograph 0.25. ( A brilliant pen for fine detail!) Pilot Drawing Pens: 0.1,0.3,0.5. Edding Profipen 0.7. Ink & Brush. Paper: Bristol Canson.
At present I only have Pilot Drawing Pens: 0.1,0.3,0.5. Which you can purchase as a 3 pack for a fiver or thereabouts in WHSmith. A good starter try-out selection. With this, some smooth paper. Smooth paper is the best to stop bleed if you are using real ink. You may feel confident enough to use a dip pen, or even fashion your own quill! ;)

The notebook paintings were mostly done in Black and Red notebooks. Using designer's gouache, and water-colour pencil. Yes, used "deftly" and sparingly.
The rest of the pieces on this thread were mostly done on Bristol Canson (my favourite paper), various water-colour and cheap sketch pads, canvas and bits of cardboard and end-board.

Phew! That should keep you busy for a bit! ;)
 

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