[nickderry]

beautiful study, can only echo Tim's comment!

[PWG]

Originally Posted by timwootton

(whilst enjoying a belated Mother's Day and Grandmother's Day lunch at a local hotel) and I wondered if you may get more of the 'Jaws' effect

Tim, just what was your artistic inspiration??

Ed, love the watercolour, I thought water was supposed to flow...

[ed keeble]

Originally Posted by timwootton

Ed - I've been thinking about this piece today (whilst enjoying a belated Mother's Day and Grandmother's Day lunch at a local hotel) and I wondered if you may get more of the 'Jaws' effect if you turn the scene around.....Have you considered a view from the dabchick's perspective (or from just behind them?) - the diver can then be almost frame-fillingly huge beyond the grebes, and swooshing towards them with menace. Just a thought.

Ok Ok I had an honest appraisal of it this morning in daylight and it is frankly just a bit boring..so no time to actually watch Jaws but here's something a bit more zappy done over lunch- black biro over blue typing paper, finger tinted with a soy/wasabi mix and diet coke used (appropriately enough) as a thinner.

[nickderry]

ah ha, now this is dynamic indeed, I love the diver's expression. Don't you love it when a 'great' idea becomes boring and then you find something really exciting such as this. I spent hours on a pic of a Middle spot, thinking it was going to be great, the end result looked like a blurred photo with some wacky colours, then had a rethink about the composition and have nearly finished something I find more exciting. Seriously, this composition is on to a winner.

[peter mathios]

Is diet coke archival?

[ARTHUR BISHOP]

I love the look of surprise on the grebes. the diver on its own is on the ball too

[timwootton]

[QUOTE and diet coke used (appropriately enough) as a thinner.[/quote]
I really think we ought to start a "Ed's Witticism Thread" - if no-one else does, I'm gonna compile them in a book and make a fortune!!!!!
(I still remember fondly the "Where there's muck - there's ******!" - absolute classic).
For details of Ed's quote - please pre-subscribe (Audubon fashion) to Tim Wootton at an adjacent thread.

[ed keeble]

Originally Posted by peter mathios

Is diet coke archival?

It could have been worse- I was offered a jam doughnut by a colleague on Monday afternoon (as food, not as art materials) and that eye was just crying out for a well aimed splot of red...

[ed keeble]

aw shucks

compliments in return Tim for prompting the sharking up of the image- without which it would still have been chugging across the page more like car ferry than carcharodon

[Woody]

Now I know where I've been going wrong all these years. I just eat my food and drink my drinks, when I should have been creative with it!

I'm looking forward to the 'worked up' image.

Woody

[PWG]

Just the thought of being creative with my food brings memories of being told not to play with my food.

[nickderry]

Never tried using food to colour my sketchbook, must try it, then I can take just my sandwiches and leave all the heavy painting stuff at home.

[ed keeble]

Originally Posted by ed keeble

Here's another ongoing project at the ultra fiddly digi-illustration end of the spectrum (sorry Tim- digipainting hasn't gone away, just keeping a low profile whilst so much real bird art is pinging about). This should turn into 3 Nordmann's Greenshank as the poster for this year's campaign against rampant mudflat reclamation in South Korea (last year's Spoon-billed Sandpiper previously posted). Currently locked in deep email discussions about breast profile, crown shape..head versus body size... Tiny changes make a big difference and it's a real test of discipline after the intial spontaneous first draft.

The Nordmann's poster nudges along- still early days but a good reminder here of how eyesize affects overall impression of size and shape. Head and body are exactly the same size on these three, but you wouldn't think it..

[timwootton]

Rather you than me, Ed! - It is looking very good, by the way.

[ed keeble]

Originally Posted by timwootton

Rather you than me, Ed! - It is looking very good, by the way.

still nudging this one along- the next two killer challenges being grappled with here are-

getting the scaps laid out correctly, but not tooo correct and regular

legs and toes aah legs and toes

Early days on both, but I'm off on an undeserved and I suspect unbirdy holiday for a bit, so regards to all in the meantime.

[nickderry]

These Nordmann's are coming along very well, but with such painstaking work, wouldn't it be easier to paint them and then scan them?? :-) In any case, they're looking great.

If you're still looking for ref. material for them, there were some great photos in the world birding gallery on surfbirds recently.

[ed keeble]

Originally Posted by nickderry

These Nordmann's are coming along very well, but with such painstaking work, wouldn't it be easier to paint them and then scan them?? :-)

Ooh I would love to just paint the *** things, but I am weak and the temptation to endlessly digi-amend adjust re-size and generally tweak is too great...

But I have relocated my paints and recognise that the next step is to use them on something :-)

[ed keeble]

Well I haven't created much lately but I did drop into my father's workshop over the weekend and he seems to be keeping busy- pheasant work in progress attached. There seem to be six pots of gentleman's relish and a small bottle of chardonnay visible on the worktop, but he tells me these are for paint mixing rather than handy refreshment.

[nickderry]

A striking pose for the pheasant, I like it very much indeed. Shame about the Chardonnay, something I like to have to hand when painting, straight out the bottle so I don't wash my brushes in my drink.

[timwootton]

Lovely work Dad's producing, Ed - it's becoming obvious where you get your talents from!
(Oh, and I know you don't need me to tell you that you don't always have to believe what Dads say . . . - paint-mixing, indeed.)

[ed keeble]

Hello all. Thought I would blow the dust off this thread after the excitement of the sketchathon. The Dogfarm Nodshank continues intermittently, currently grappling with how to get blobby and notchy scapulars right without losing overall shape of bird. Long way to go (texture highlights and all).

edit-managed to squeeze a bit more since posting earlier

[ed keeble]

still ploughing my lonely furrow on this one...had a request from the Nod Meister in Korea to see if it would be possible to wake the bird up and get it scampering about a bit.

[nickderry]

hee hee, he scampers quite well this nod whotsit!

[timwootton]

You make it look so bloody easy Ed! - I don't know the Nod's Whatsit at all (probably illegal, anyway) but do we have enough 'arse-end' to the bird - or is this how Nod likes it? (Particularly now it scampers so, is there more to be added behind the leggies, so to speak.) Smack me with dead-wood parrot-perch if I don't know what I'm talking about! . . . - ouch - that *ecking HURT!!!!

[Dave B]

Originally Posted by ed keeble

still ploughing my lonely furrow on this one...had a request from the Nod Meister in Korea to see if it would be possible to wake the bird up and get it scampering about a bit.

Do they do that then? Most of the ones I see seem to be permanently snoozing!