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

revivingKensArt (2 Viewers)

ed keeble said:
amazing- I do like that intermediate stage at #1363 with its background colour and the final block is a fine thing in its own right
Click to expand...

Thanks all. I'm glad that you enjoyed seeing the process. I am happy with the results here and feel like I'm starting to be able to do what I'd like with birds as the subject.

Ed I liked that one too. I was really tempted to let it go off in that direction except that it was so untrue to the bird itself. So I brought it back toward what the bird really looked like. It was a process a bit like 'herding cats.';)
 
Terrific - and I agree absolutely; your process is now flowing so naturally - it transports the viewer to your place. Thoroughly excellent.
 
Thanks Tim, John. I think this print knocked the starch out of me. So I haven't tried anything ambitious since then.

So some little stuff:
A crayon and wash of some Common Moorhens at Metzger Marsh in Ohio.
A watercolor of a Least Sandpiper seen a week ago at Morris Arboretum here. Both of these are based mainly on photos I took.

And a couple of pages of field sketches. The Least Sandpiper, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Eastern Chimpmunk and Red-tailed Hawk. And on last page one Wood Duck in flight, another preening itself, a Canada Goose and a small fish, most likely a stocked trout.
 

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what a wonderful print - the process does indeed look torturous, you've got me very inspired to have another go at this whole printing malarky.

Love the moorhens too.
 
Nicely done Moorhen, Ken. I really like your technique with the water, and a different pose of a diddicult bird to get right, me thinks!

Russ
 
Thanks all. It's been heron and egret time around here last few days. Part of the reason is that I've found a couple of immature birds whose ID I just couldn't confirm. Immature Little Blue Heron, which are fairly rare here, or immature Snowy Egret which are more common. So as I puzzled through it, and kept changing my mind, I did numerous field sketches as well as photos.

First a Solitary Sandpiper, Eastern Kingbird, Willow Flycatcher, Red-bellied Woodpecker and the mystery heron/egret.

Second a Green Heron, and the mystery egret, which I finally decided had to be an immature Little Blue Heron.

Third: an immature Great Blue Heron.

Fourth: Solitary Sandpiper, 12-Spotted Skimmer and the same immature Great Blue Heron.

Fifth: the Little Blue, a juvenile male Wood Duck and the immature Great Blue scratching his head.
 

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Finally identified, both by myself and confirmed by others, that the mystery birds were immature Little Blue Herons, a bird I rarely see but never as an immature. At that point it is white and can look a lot like an immature Snowy Egret.

Here's a small watercolor I spent this morning on. It really doesn't have much crispness to it but it may be a start for another more developed painting down the line. Based on field sketches and photos.
 

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marvelous sketch Ken, you just keep getting better and better...and thanks for the prod, even if its hard, I know my friend would not want me to mope around,
so I got some pics up on that blog brushwiththesea.blogspot.com just for you and I'm so glad you said something about it. was easy and fast...
 
Just popped by and had to remark on the print, cracking piece...

A little heaped praise for the Moorhen sketch, really did catch my eye Ken...
 
Well done with the head-scratching egret, Ken. I was studying these a few weeks ago and they often hold this pose just long enough for you to get it down on paper. Still a hell of a pose to capture accuratley, though.

Russ
 
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