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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Joint Thread (2 Viewers)

timwootton said:
Great evening and one happy camper.
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He lives! I was beginning to wonder what had happened to the usually prolific Mr Wootton, when out of the blue he pops up with these two sublime pages of skuas. They're all wonderful but the one of the Bonxie scanning the sky really grabs me!

Meanwhile, taking a break from doing some id plates, thought I'd try to do something a little more fluid using my light sabre on the computer last night. This is an attempt to re-create a field sketch I made in December 2002. It was a misty muggy day and I was looking into the light. This small flock of Little Terns was spooked by a White-bellied Sea Eagle, which was actually taking a fish and wasn't interested in them at all. Made a memorable impression!

Cheers

Dave
 

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timwootton said:
Shock, horror - managed to actually 'get in the field' tonight - just back, effing frozen -middle of bloody summer, t-shirt, fleece and three-way jacket and still brass-monkeyed!!! And it was sunny at that! Biting 'breeze' from the norwest and hugely disappointed to find that where I'd last left 'my' lovely female skua with chick, now in residence was a pair of bonxies - albeit 150 metres from aforementioned "gorgeous one". Ah well - if they've eaten the chick it's sad, but I love bonxies too -anyway one (I'm thinking the female - was much bonnier alongside its rather dark and angular mate) just sat doing very little, about 70 metres from me giving lovely scope views. Spent about an hour with 'her' then decided was too cold on this exposed heather clifftop, so retreated towards the car.
Then - just where I'd last left her a couple of weeks ago, was the arctic skua female. I never noticed her arrive over my shoulder and she was just too beautiful to resist. Already cold and knackered from all-day meetings about effing graphic design and how to collate my bird report information (eeeek!!!) I was lured into another 45 minutes of watching and drawing. As I creaked upright I decided to take a look where she was sitting and, although I didn't see it, the chick was, I'm sure, still alive. She put on a wonderful distraction display whilst gently calling all the time.
Great evening and one happy camper.
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Love seeing your work Tim - it really inspires me.
 
Tim fantastic work on the skuas,Personally loved the Arctic female.
Such elegant birds, caught masterfully. Much respect.

Yet to make atrip to orkney which isn't good must make the effort.

Dave B loved the white bellied too, only seen em in captivity and those
wonderful talon grapling display's on the box such a spectacular Eagle.
 
Tim, freezing your b*llocks off was certainly worth it, I love the way the bonxies are so powerful and chunky, and the arctic so more refined and fluid in shape. Stunning.

Dave, what a great image, makes me think of nightmareish situations of wandering onto a busy runway.
 
Phil, birds in flight I also find extremely difficult to get right - I get hundreds of drawings wrong - for instance, on the recently unloaded sketches some of the flight drawings are passable, whereas others I find less pleasing to the eye. Look at the bonxie sheet and there are 2 dark phase arctics on the left - you'll see how I've tampered with my original sketch of them to broaden the wings and alter the primary angle slightly. I knew what I was after, but the first drawings didn't get it. These are a little less bad, but they aren't good, either (the bonxie isn't too bad, but I know this bird really rather well during the summertime). On the arctic sheet the bottom bird (in fligth) is very clumsy and I will redraw that because I like the pose (not on this sheet, I mean I'll draw a bird in flight on different sheets and try to get the jizz of waht I saw here) - The top two birds are okay and I like them. I think I like them because they aren't 'obvious' drawings (ie flat on silhouettes, like the dark pahases are) and the wing foreshortening has worked better than it usually does.
Secret? - a lot of looking, a lot of re-drawing sometimes, a hell of a lot of mistakes and just ocassionally . . .
Dave - I love this! The colours are superb, almost dream like and the action in the painting is intense, really great work. And to answer you -I've been doing other things, I'm afraid -writing, webdesign (aaaargh) and meetings. I'll ask you a similar question - how do YOU get the flight studies right?
 
As Nick pointed out I'm glad you stuck the weather out, two truly great pages here Tim. Bonxies are superb. Never seen these on the deck and am a little envious! Skuas are way up there on my favourite bird chart, they have it all and you have captured them so very well here...

Glasses raised in your general direction.....
 
hey everyone!
Just a quick note and comments.
Wendy, I think it is amazing the difference between your sketches from photos and your field sketches. Both done very well, but the field sketches have so much more fluidity. Very nice!

Tim, of course, nice work as usual. I love the first page, I think, the best. The variety of angles-view points-gives you a wide range to work with later and a better understanding of the bird.

For me, when I do birds in flight, I either got it spot on or I have to trash the whole thing.

Well I have missed being a part of the discussions. It is good to be back!
 
Tim those skuas are top class, the composition of the second page makes it a work of art in itself.
Dave B love your eagle and terns, great composition and colour, very individual piece.
 
Something a bit different in coloured pencils (I usually just use them to tidy up my watercolours)
Tried to capture the stare of the male sparrowhawk which can be quite unnerving if it fixes on you at close quarters, but when I showed it to my two year old he said "wow, hedgehog!". |:||
 

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Thanks for your comments on the portrait, the actual size is A3, I still have it blu-tacked to the wall and the eyes follow you round the room, if I put it on a black background I reckon it would look good in one of those haunted house movies or a scooby-doo episode (scooby doo and the spooky sparrowhawk perhaps?)
 
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