• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Mike's conservatory (1 Viewer)

That Peregrine's grand- its another of those that passes the thumbnail test- you can see its going to be good before you open it up.
 
Peregrine is just a bit special Mike, a painting that you just know by looking at it is based in first hand experience of the scene, superb attitude, great light, great background, the whole thing is superb. Huge thumbs up, Love it!
 
The character is just spot on here. (I love that one glinting eye!) The lighting, too, is superb, and the freshness of the whole scene. Excellent stuff, Woody!
 
Ditto can't add to what's been said above. Your love and enthusiasm for wildlife shines through in the sketches and painting .
 
Went over to Elmley on saturday morning to be greeted by fantastic, low, early morning, winter sun and wall to wall lapwings. But I resisted the urge and walked out to the first hide. In front of the hide there were lots of wigeon and teal roosting on the mud, the sun so strongly reflecting off the water that any detailed study was difficult.

What is this thing you call a sun? Not sure I've seen it before, or if I have, it was so long ago that I've forgotten what it looks like. Maybe it's a European thing;) Anyway, great painting!!
 
I'm still alive!

Feels like my mojo's deserted me a bit lately, it must be that bl00dy commision!

Anyhow heres some stuff from the past couple of weeks. The (sometimes bitter) cold has slowed some of the wildfowl down a bit at Elmley over recent weeks, which has given me some opportunities to try familiarising myself with some of the common ducks. Wigeon and teal alike were trying to sleep through the cold with their heads tucked away and usually only one foot on the frozen ground or, at times, water. Ringed plovers, lapwings etc all joined in the general frenzy of sleep. Marsh harriers have been in evidence, their presence closely monitered by the crows and gulls, all eager to take advantage of any leftovers from the harrier's hunt. But the harriers aren't above a bit of opportunism, I watched this one as she followed a fox, perhaps hoping for a bit of rabbit leftover. Despite the cold, signs of spring are increasing. The hares are beginning to box, lapwings are displaying and little egrets are looking pristine in breeding plumage. This one spent a while ensuring every last plume was in place despite the wind doing its best to ruffle some feathers.
Finally an object lesson in what happens when you overwork a sketch to within an inch of its life!

Mike
 

Attachments

  • wigonice.jpg
    wigonice.jpg
    39.6 KB · Views: 150
  • tealone.jpg
    tealone.jpg
    40 KB · Views: 164
  • marshpost.jpg
    marshpost.jpg
    54.4 KB · Views: 176
  • preengrets1.jpg
    preengrets1.jpg
    30.1 KB · Views: 152
  • preengrets2.jpg
    preengrets2.jpg
    34 KB · Views: 179
Just the ones that got left out...
 

Attachments

  • twoplovs.jpg
    twoplovs.jpg
    50 KB · Views: 165
  • tealthree.jpg
    tealthree.jpg
    71.6 KB · Views: 185
great stuff, there's definitely some mileage in the groups of ducks and those ringed plovers are just screaming to be put into a painting. A nice study of the egret would be a stunner too. As for overworking, I think we'd all like to go back a step when painting, but this one has got a huge amount of life in it still, and very bright. Hope to see some of these become paintings soon.
 
Hi Mike, first time I've looked at your personal thread. Just spent a pleasant few minutes going through it right from the start.

It's got everything! Great sketches, superb paintings in a variety of styles, work progressions and also excellent trip reports.

Inspiring and interesting!

Many thanks,
Des.
 
All right, so I will spend my time here. Now I feel even more guilty because I missed this one completely. Mike your work takes my breath away. I can't wait to add my two cents in the future!!!!
 
So the round of university interviews continued for my son this week. Wednesday found us in Brighton which gave me an hour or two to see what I could find.

As it turned out I found a very pleasant little river walk in Glynde (close to Glyndebourne and the opera place). The sun was shining and all was well with the world. I spotted a kingfisher almost as soon as I arrived and any day with a kingfisher in it is a good day. A beautiful male kestrel was hunting over a marshy field and I just can't resist a kestrel! He must have been living the easy life working that field, I lifted a large piece of wood hoping to find reptiles and instead found about five or six bank voles which scurried down into runs in the grass so I carefully replaced thier roof.

As I followed the river the kingfisher moved ahead of me and I caught him in the bins four or five times just before he shot off in a blue flash, what a bird!

There were stonechats flitting about too and I managed one or two sketches before I had to get back to the uni and pick up my son ready for the drive home. All in all a really pleasant couple of hours R&R.

Next week, Winchester...

Mike
 

Attachments

  • glyndekes.jpg
    glyndekes.jpg
    214.9 KB · Views: 183
  • glyndestony.jpg
    glyndestony.jpg
    138.8 KB · Views: 198
Warning! This thread is more than 11 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top