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Jomo's Sketchbook (1 Viewer)

Ha, they are a riot to watch, aren't they, Peter? Hopefully the rain will ease up enough tomorrow for me to go get another look. Of course, I want to hit the GLNC Cooper's nest too. And check up on the local ospreys (haven't visited any of them all season, other than the Victoria St nest I drive by every day). And I really have to hit Currie Tract again and try for the Prairie Warbler (Sunday, maybe, before the family reunion?), and Snyder's Flats for the Bank Swallow colony, and Hamilton for the terns and peregrines, and then it's Sauble for the plovers next weekend, and Algonquin the weekend after that ... I've been making up excuses to keep my mother from visiting, I've fallen so far behind on the housework with all this birding to be done!
 
Hopefully the rain will ease up enough tomorrow for me to go get another look. Of course, I want to hit the GLNC Cooper's nest too. And check up on the local ospreys (haven't visited any of them all season, other than the Victoria St nest I drive by every day). And I really have to hit Currie Tract again and try for the Prairie Warbler (Sunday, maybe, before the family reunion?), and Snyder's Flats for the Bank Swallow colony, and Hamilton for the terns and peregrines, and then it's Sauble for the plovers next weekend, and Algonquin the weekend after that ... I've been making up excuses to keep my mother from visiting, I've fallen so far behind on the housework with all this birding to be done!

...and you didn't even mention the pelicans!

...what to do, what to do... :h?:

P.C.
 
OH FRIKK I FORGOT THE PELICANS!!!! When the 'ell am I gonna get the chance to hit Luther???

Hey Colleen! Yes, when I do proper paintings, I usually sketch everything out first exactly as I want it -- once the paint goes down, there's not much opportunity to change it (not to say I won't try!). So I'll usually spend a few days on the actual sketch, to make sure I can live with it before moving on. For the redstart piece (I take it that's the one you're referring to), I masked the branches with liquid frisket, then cut out leaf shapes in tape and pasted them on. You can also mask your areas with tape first and then carefully cut away the shapes with an xacto knife or razor blade (this can score the paper, though).

Of course, this is by no means the only way to approach watercolour, and I envy those who can splash it about (I'll do this with field sketches, but get so nit-picky-fiddly with paintings that I opt to go conservative and avoid the hair pulling). So in other words ... approach it in whatever way you'd like!

And if you need to revise things, Mr. Derry has a few handy makeover tips. :)
 
Thanks Jomo, that clarifies things...who is Mr. Derry?
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=80442
know you've been here before - but once is never enough in the case of a visit to Mr Derry's.

Jo - You may be spoilt for choice regarding the breeders of your area, but we are the ones getting the main benefit from your forages into the wilderness. I cannot select a single drawing which I would not love to have sitting on my wall. Your fieldwork is of the very highest order which shows great understanding of form and character, and also great empathy with your subject.
Gorgeous work - all of it.
 
Hi Jomo,

Brilliant batch of sketches. Red Tailed Hawks are really well drawn, the colour sketch is a gem. Your knowledge of bird anatomy very obvious in the head sketches, not a line out of place and the placemnet of the eye and brow are perfectly executed.

LEO's bundled with character! Good to see you have lots to get out and see too, its all happening in Sweden as well, raptor young have fledged here too, Osprey, Marsh Harriers and Goshawks everywhere at the minute....
 
Just returned from a long weekend at the family cottage -- didn't really do any birding, but there ended up being enough wildlife around the property to keep me entertained anyway. Mom finally put up her hummingbird feeder on Saturday, and within hours a gorgeous little jewel of a male Rubythroat had stationed himself nearby and began defending it from all comers. A nice surprise was two Common Loons (sorry Tim, divers, divers! ;)) appearing on the bay -- no little guy with them (no surprise, there's no suitable nesting sites here), so not sure if they were an unsuccessful pair or a couple of non-breeders. Hopefully they stick around for the summer.

I'll be portaging into the Algonquin backcountry on Friday for five days away from civilization, so I expect to have at least a few more loon encounters before I return (hopefully lots of other wildlife as well).
 

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More loons, and some Bobolink sheets from a few weekends ago.
 

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Love the loons and the bobolink and that hummer is absolutely outstanding!

They're fab little birds aren't they, I remember being surprised by my first sighting of them at feeders on the deck of my in-laws' place when they lived in North Carolina. 'You have humming birds?!! I couldn't keep my eyes of them for the whole time we were there (except when the copperhead turned up in the yard!).

Brilliant work Jo.

Mike
 
Wow - thanks Mike, I'd have been loathe to miss these. Among the finest drawings I've seen, anywhere. Gorgeous - the tail stretching study is divine - absolutely.
And you can call 'em whatever you like Jo - just so long as the word's accompanied by drawings of this ilk.
 
I realise what I've missed having stayed away from the BFAF for so long - no not posting my own stuff - but seeing everyone's field work - fantastic sheet of sketches Jomo and a sensitive handling of your subject matter as usual.
 
wow - not often you get to see sketches of hummingbirds here - what a beuty! and the divers (sorry - spent all evening with Americans so saying DIVERS quite loudly here!) are exquisite as divers are!
 
and now a bobolink - which was on the next page - we really need to get these on this side of the Atlantic - just adorable birds, and fieldwork of this quality just really makes me want to see them for real!
 
Back from my Algonquin canoe trip. Not much wildlife seen, although I did get my one target species -- a lifer River Otter, swimming right past our canoe during the paddle back. Best thirty seconds of the trip! We had loons too, a fairly approachable trio who would drift in close off the point near our campsite (no chicks spotted in any of the lakes we crossed, unfortunately).

Yesterday I swung by the folks' to pick up the feathered kid, and took my neice out for a bit of birding while I was there. We found some fledgling Kingbirds huddled together on a bare branch alongside the trail (wisely we kept our distance -- they're called Kingbirds for a very good reason, and neither parent would have tolerated the intrusion). We wrapped up our outing with a Savannah Sparrow, who popped up from the grasses to keep an eye on us as we passed.
 

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