Mike's conservatory (1 Viewer)

Woody · Jan 15, 2010

Well I seem to have dropped off the first page!

Can't have that...

I've had the creative stuffin' knocked out of me by the office move to Paddington. Not an awful place really, just awful to get to and from, it's currently taking about 3 and a half hours each way...
Also had a nasty chest infection brought on by the icy air so all in all I've not really been feeling much like painting and drawing.

However, the snow had it's advantages, I had a couple of 'snow days' off work, after all I simply couldn't struggle in so I offered to 'work from home'

and spent the day in the conservatory watching the snow fall. I was delighted, and a bit over excited, when a couple of redwings turned up to rival the blackbirds for possession of the cotoneaster bush. At first I scribbled but then I realised that the birds were staying and I took the time to get some more detailed sketches. Two birds hung about for most of the day, periodically getting chased off by the six or seven blackbirds but always returning once the blackies settled down or got distracted chasing each other about. Redwing is a new garden tick so I'm quite chuffed about them coming in.

I'm going to try getting out this weekend, sketchbook in hand so that's hopefully the start of normal service being resumed, provided I don't scare everything off with the hacking cough!

Mike

Andrew H · Jan 15, 2010

Love that middle page mike, hopefully we can get out n about, shold be sun shine set for sunday.........just have to make sure we dont slide on any icy road whilst between them dykes...!

Andrew H · Jan 15, 2010

just noticed...

############1 0 0 0 ENTRIES ####################################

WOOOOHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO LETS GET THE PARTY STARTED....

nickderry · Jan 15, 2010

super redwings and the perfect way to use a snow day (I haven't been at work so don't deserve redwings, and so haven't seen any this winter!)

nickderry · Jan 15, 2010

and yay 1000 replies YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

colleenc · Jan 15, 2010

I love the first page, tho not as detailed, it has an energy of birdiness that appeals to me. raising the glass on the 1000

ARTHUR BISHOP · Jan 15, 2010

Love the sketches Mike.
Had your namesake in the garden at first light,he saw me first and was off.

timwootton · Jan 15, 2010

ARTHUR BISHOP said:
Love the sketches Mike.
Had your namesake in the garden at first light,he saw me first and was off.

. . . as would any sensible intruder

Brilliant drawings Mike - exciting moments captured perfectly.

solitaryVSong · Jan 16, 2010

Woody said:
I've had the creative stuffin' knocked out of me by the office move to Paddington.
Mike

You surely wouldn't know it from these drawings Mike! At first I liked the middle one best but now that I have time to look a bit more closely I have to agree with Colleen that the first one really seems the most striking. Very full of life!

Woody · Jan 18, 2010

At last managed to get out to the hides on Sunday and we enjoyed some glorious winter sunshine too. Sadly the tide was out so the bird numbers were limited and, as the fields are mostly flooded at the moment, the birds that were around mostly chose to roost away from the scrapes in front of the hides. Still it was good to get out and an early sighting of a distant hunting peregrine made for a good day whatever happened.

From the hide you can see for a good couple of miles across the flooded, flat fields and marsh and often, with a scope, a peregrine or two can be picked out in the far distance. This weekend was no exception although the bird I found was even further away than usual. As mentioned the sun was low in the sky and casting strong, slanting light across the marsh and the birds. It was an effect I wanted to use so I tried to use just the shadows and highlights to depict the birds rather than getting all trussed up by details. I hope I managed some of that with the distant pere, a handful of lapwings and a closer kestrel.

So a nice, if too short, visit and, hopefully, a good omen for the start of the year. Roll on the weekend...

Oh yeah, a snowbound spug that I missed from last week too.

Mike

timwootton · Jan 18, 2010

I can sense your relief at getting back out - and the uplift in your spirits shows in the drawings! - back in the groove with some lovely work, dripping with light. It seems that this place is going to be even more of a sanctuary for you, in the light of your ball-breaking commute.

ARTHUR BISHOP · Jan 18, 2010

Lovely sketches mike

nickderry · Jan 19, 2010

superb work, nice to get out!

colleenc · Jan 23, 2010

love the laps,
there is a very old split( starting in the Dark Ages) in Western painting between those who draw by mass like Massccio,( the first who radically departed from the norm of line and fill in, like Giotto,) its a good exercise to go against what ever way you favor most, IMO those who are comfortable with mass can translate in to light much easier in a painting.

Woody · Jan 26, 2010

Well we did manage an outing again on Sunday. The day was overcast and steely cold, and the ground, wet and covered in grasping mud. The barn owl was at the entrance to her box, feathers well fluffed up against the chill and she hopped inside as the temperature dropped even lower. I have seen no sign of the little owls for a good few weeks, I hope the snow hasn't killed them off. The scrapes are flooded which reduces the amount of small islands where the waders roost but there were lapwings, ringed plovers, a lone turnstone, plenty of teal and wigeon and a few shovellers and pintails too. I concentrated on a pied wagtail who was running about feeding between the other snoozing birds. I've done no painting since before xmas now and it's only over the past few days that I'm beginning to feel the urge again, maybe a pied wag painting is on the cards.

Mike

timwootton · Jan 26, 2010

Superb wagtails Mike - top class. I suppose the owls will have had to find somewhere with softer ground for the earthworms (I've no idea how far they move)?

solitaryVSong · Jan 26, 2010

Very nice drawings Mike. I've never seen a wagtail but am starting to get a very good feeling for them thanks to these and other drawings.

I just finished reading Bruce Pearson's 'Winged Migration.' A lot of the birds mentioned there I then looked up in LJ's Birds of Europe. So all of this together has started to give me a feel for all these birds I've never seen but that often end up in drawings and paintings here. It's been a pleasure.

Strandman · Jan 26, 2010

Hello there- glad to see you are still functioning admirably despite the killer commute. Hard to imagine Little Owls moving far- maybe they just hunker down and wait for it to thaw?

Woody · Jan 26, 2010

We're pretty much thawed now, apart from the thick, windblown ice that still lingers as a crust on some of the more protected dykes. Elmley has very few trees and buildings where little owls would feel at home, that's why you're fairly sure to see them around the same locations every visit. I just hope they're keeping their little heads down 'til it warms up properly.

Must admit, seven hours travel a day including walking, coaches and that bluddy bike, is proving a bit much at the moment but I'm beginning to feel like I need the therapy of painting about now.

Mike

colleenc · Jan 26, 2010

great sketches Mike, the wags esp wonderful. re the commute, migod to do any art at all is just heroic. I once did a two hour commute each way to work and even that took the stuffing out of me, have no idea how you are doing this at all, so kudos for keeping at it, hope it helps soothe your soul....

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