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Wings Over Winecountry, Colleen's place (1 Viewer)

Thanks EliS that makes it successful, as that one thing was what I was trying to portray

Delia put up a request recently for Opus, and for a change of action thought I'd give it a try. This is a study for a beak of the Ferruginous Hawk. I'm not really a detail painter so this is a stretch, and watercolor too. Although tight for me, it is loose compared to a Harris Ching....

I met a raptor expert who used to teach at Davis one of the top vet schools in the US, and after the Birds in Art show is over in Sept, I want to start on a specific study of them, so this is good practice.
 

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Yesterday at Howath Park, I spotted a new cormorant. Unlike the cormorants at Bodega, all Pelagics, these are Double Cresteds that hang at lakes, although they can adapt to the sea. One in particular was strange looking with a big head and buff chest and neck, it's a juve.( see center top of left page) These have a sort of pouch too. They are more drab and brown than the pelagics They dry and sun themselves about 150' from a dock where I can sit and draw. I painted them later. At the same time I saw for the first time, a piebilled grebe, a tiny lbj that I saw only seconds...

Still trying to figure out the watercolor, this is my least favorite way, painting in my drawings
 

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some superb shapes, John Busby said about Shags - a perfect subject for the collector of bird shapes. Contortionism on a page. The bird holding its wings up is sublime - the depth you've achieved across its wings make it leap off the page.
 
Thanks Nick, very high praise, and Busby's comment says exactly what I feel. I'm very excited about meeting him in person in Sept.

Are the double cresteds called Shags in Britian?

Yesterday I went out again and saw only the juvenile on the rock, then it took off in a long 1/4 mile arc across the lake, and looping back to the island trying to land on a thin branch of one of the trees there. He missed and it took 2 more attempts of the 1/4 mile arc to get there. I wonder why he didn't just fly shorter loops, but maybe it's a matter of perfect speed and angle. When I walked out more on the dock I could see the adult at the top in the same tree, and later they were joined by a snowy....but eventually the adult make it move off.

here they are at sunset.
 

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Shag is Phalacrocorax aristotelis, a common European species absent from the US. Our other common species is Great Cormorant - Phalacrocorax carbo, a rare but increasing species stateside (or so I've heard) your DC Cormorants are P. auritus, and a major,major rarity this side of the pond, with only one UK record back in 1989. Busby was talking about shags, but his comments extend to all the cormorants.
 
Woody said:
Nice work Colleen. I struggle with beak shape on cormorants. How are you meeting Mr. Busby?

Mike
Click to expand...
I think John is at the 'Birds In Art' - t'other side o' t'pond, Mike. Colleen has a piece juried in to the show - major result!
Confirm, Colleen?
 
thanks Nick, I have one of LJ bird guide books "Birds of Lake River Marsh and Field" no Shags in there tho.

and Tim is correct, by some fluke of luck, my first real bird work was accepted, and I'm gobsmacked, as I think your side of the pond says, but the great treat for me will be to meet Mr. Busby who is this years Master of the Year and is giving a special speech and a lot of his work will be shown as well.
 
thanks Mike,
I'm pretty much a recluse, and never go anywhere, nor do most people know I'm an artist, as I don't usually show, advertize or market (no website). This summer I will do a tiny little show, and then in Sept will be with a world I only dreamed of by going back to the show. One thing in particular I want to see is a real Jonsson, as he was the youngest Master of the Year ever selected a few years ago, I understand that each master has some work in the perm collection, so I'm very excited to go, and now you know why I've been so single minded about learning and drawing here. I just couldn't go back knowing zero about birds, so as soon as I was notified in June, I got busy.

Many, many thanks to all here who have been helping me learn and grow. I'm so grateful to all the amazing artists here. I feel now I can mix and mingle and really get something out of the chance to be with some of the best bird artists around, most esp Mr. Busby.
 
What's the painting Colleen? Is it an old turkey, or something (sorry I have an image of the portrait which is beautifully lit, but I can't bring to mind the species) - any chance you could post a pic of it?
 
colleenc said:
Gold stars for you Ken! you are a real trouper! I think that thread is about 18 pages....

I have noticed there are very very few of the big time artists that really get cheetah right, and almost none of them have done it in motion,(I've never seen any except for the ones that just freeze the action) so I did take on a lot.

My favorite artist for cheetah and for Africa in general is Paul Bosman, he keeps things simple, clean and fluid, and his cheetah have that lightness of step the cats have unlike any of the other big cats. He has a book with his art called Cats of Africa. I got a used copy really cheap and it is one of my favourite books. Although he was well respected, he is not as well known as some of his comtemporaries.I think he should be He also used pastel frequently, few of the big cat painters do much pastel, tho Bosman was just as adept in oil.
Click to expand...

You're expanding my horizons Colleen. The only wildlife I've ever done or paid much attention to is birds, and maybe horses, animals that I can see around me with some regularity. I've never paid much attention to 'big cat' art. But I'm now looking at it in a new light, and enjoying it. I really like the Bosman sketches I've seen since reading this thread. So all of my 'trooping' has paid off!!
 
colleenc said:
Y

Still trying to figure out the watercolor, this is my least favorite way, painting in my drawings
Click to expand...

You've gotten the shapes and postures down very well! They do have the most interesting shapes. There are usually a number of DCCs on the river that I drive along on my way to work each morning. I never see them but I know that they are there. Seeing these great sketches makes me think I need to leave for work early one day and try to find and draw them.

I don't know if you've ever used watercolor pencils and waterbrushes? I have very mixed feelings about them since I picked some up about 6 months ago. The thing I like about them is that it's easy to tote along 5-10 pencils and one or two brushes(the water is actually held in the brush handle) whenever I go out. Most of my sketches here have been done with them. So they're very convenient.

But it's nearly impossible, at least for me, to mix them in order to get specific colors that I want. And if you use them on top of an area where you've already used the brush to blend them and turn into watercolors it's a disaster. The brushed area no longer accepts the pencils very well, and instead makes them way too dark and bold. So they're very frustrating in that way.

But if you just accept them for what they are: an easy way to use watercolor, with a very limited palette, you might find them useful. It took me 6 months or so to become comfortable with them and I still wonder if I'd be better off just bringing watercolors. But they might be a good compromise for you? And they're fairly inexpensive.
 
Thanks Ken,
I've tried them but for all the reasons you state and more, I much prefer taking watercolors and now have a lightweight travel box with paints and the watercolor sticks I posted earlier in this thread...Daniel Smith puts them out, and they are a solid stick of color, you can take the water brush and brush over the tip and paint, or wet the paper and draw on and spread, or I take them and rub in a puddle of water on my small palette. Are far better than the pencils I think and as easy to carry along, besides coming in rich pigments.


As a very simple alternative I saw at an art materials demo, put a tiny pile of the color at the top edge of a 300# piece of watercolor paper, say 3x5, and the pile is just squeezed out of the tube, about 1/8 inch, in other words a dab. (I suppose you could use a styrofoam meat tray too, but it may not be as sturdy as the paper.)
Put 4-5 colors along the top edge, let them dry, and volia, you have a portable palette and your colors, using a waterbrush you can rewet, and mix on the rest of the card. Even easier, and smaller than the pencils way, plus you can pick the colors you like to work with. I've found a great combination that mixes most of what you need for browns and blues, Daniel Smith Indigo, and Quin Bt. Orange. These 2, plus a red yellow and green can make most anything. The first two together make a great black, shaded blues, both warm and cool, and a range of browns from umber to Bt Sienna, so you could do it with just these two alone, plus a yellow for making greens.

I've used this out in the field for my small sketchbook and it works great, is cheap and easy to carry. I hold it with my thumb right on the page of the sketch.
 
thanks Nick, excitement doesn't even begin to cover it.....I'm not sure I'll believe it completely until I'm there.

I think you should enter next year, as they have a wide range of styles, and it's one of the few places a more contemporary style is part of the mix.
here is a link http://www.lywam.org/birdsinart/

I bought a couple of catalogs from the past, as they each have a nice section on the Master of the Year, I got the ones with Chris Bacon, and Harris-Ching, they are full color and quite inspiring. The Woodson show is open to international entries, this year there were about 1000 entries and around 100 chosen. I hadn't planned on entering as I didn't do birds, a fellow artist told me of the show, he's been selected the last 3 years. But then this tom showed up right outside my cottage and just inspired me completely, I finished the work the day of the deadline.... now look what's happened, I'm really hooked!

Tim, the tom turkey in full display is the first or second entry on my blog, a link is under my name on the left.
 
I'm about to head out once again with my watercolor pencil kit, but in the back of my mind I now have an added impetus to just drop them and try real watercolor. When I see some of the beautiful watercolor sketches done here I realize that they just couldn't be done with watercolor pencils. I have read of people taking small butcher trays covered in cellophane on sketching trips. Maybe I'll try that soon. The Daniel Smith watercolor sticks sound interesting but I wonder if I wouldn't run into a similar problem of not wanting to have to fiddle with anything other than the real thing.
 
they are the REAL thing Ken, real watercolor concentrated into stick form, thats why they are so great, imagine rolling your watercolor cakes into a stick form...
 
I vote with Tim, I tried the pencils, small field box , bigger field box, and watercolor crayons.:-O here is a link right to the field boxes, I got one but found that I liked a full size one eventually, and it was and empty box, plastic, very light, and holds 2 brushes, it fits in my vest, I put my own choice of colors in it, also I took my Daniel Smith sticks and broke them in half, I put a few in a baggie inside this box so I can have more color or take them out and carry with a waterbrush, in my pocket, but so far I haven't done thathttp://www.dickblick.com/search/?sp_q=watercolor+boxes

I like the Sakura, it has the white in it, is palm size.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/sakura-koi-watercolor-sketch-box-sets/
 
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