Jomo's Sketchbook (18 Viewers)

[timwootton]

Beautiful fledgelings - what would ma and pa KB have done, Jo? The sheet with the calling bird is very lovely indeed - the way the eye is cadjoled into flicking between the top and bottom image creates a virtual animation of the drawings.
The loon shapes are, as expected, perfectly seen.

 

[buzzard12]

Hi Jo, congrats on this latest field work. Kingbirds are great, youve captured their sociable nature perfectly.
The divers are, as always, drawn with great aplomb....

 

[jomo]

Probably would've removed a few of my own 'headfeathers', Tim. Their aggressiveness is their hallmark, doubly so in the breeding season, and they'll take on just about anything -- although it's the crows and raptors that suffer the real brunt of their ire.

 

[ARTHUR BISHOP]

Looks like a good canoe trip Jo

 

[nickderry]

this little lot certainly raised a smile here - would have liked to have seen a sketch of an attacking kingbird, but perhaps safest to err on the side of caution!

 

[solitaryVSong]

Hi JoMo,

Thanks so much for leading me to this forum! I've felt like I've been working in isolation for years, that I couldn't seem to find anyone with artistic goals similar to mine. But that is over. It's been great to look through all the great art, both sketches and finished work, that is here.

As for yours I'm much impressed with the grouped fledglings. They look like they belong together. A very lively sketch!

 

[deborah4]

Love the divers Jomo ... I must get down to the seas again!

 

[jomo]

I haven't been out in the field nearly as much as I'd like over the past month or so (just too much else getting in the way), but with migration in full swing I'm making time for it. It feels like it was just last week that I was watching the warblers stream in, now they're on their way out again already -- where does the summer go?

 

[jomo]

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[timwootton]

-- where does the summer go?

. . . straight into the pages of your sketcbook, by the looks of it - there to remain as testemony of the wonderful beauty and variety of living birds. There ae a couple of spondilicious hummer figures - the one 3/4 facing forward is delightful and the moulting mallard is exquisitely seen. Get back out there, young lady - there's too much we might miss if you don't.

 

[Woody]

. . . straight into the pages of your sketcbook, by the looks of it - there to remain as testemony of the wonderful beauty and variety of living birds. There ae a couple of spondilicious hummer figures - the one 3/4 facing forward is delightful and the moulting mallard is exquisitely seen. Get back out there, young lady - there's too much we might miss if you don't.

Amen to that!

Mike

 

[solitaryVSong]

Amen to that!

Mike

Add another Amen! I'm especially appreciative because I was out this weekend also viewing the migration, especially the wood warblers. They are impossible to draw from life!! Gone the second you see them. I only managed to get one absolutely horrible drawing of a Black-throated Blue. So these drawings really stand out, especially the Ovenbird and Black-throated Green.

I guess the one consolation of summer's end is that we get one more look at these beautiful birds, and a chance to get them down on paper!! Get back out before they're gone for another year.

 

[nickderry]

as always, an unbridled pleasure that makes me feel familiar with these species that I've never seen. That's how full of life and character they are.

 

[jomo]

Finally got my BIA catalogue today -- bent in half and crammed in my postal box, thought I was going to have to rip it apart just to get it out! Ah well, lots of Busby, Bacon, Quinn, Morgan, the lovely tom by Ms. Colleen, and a de Groot piece that could've been painted by our own Mr. Keeble. No Van Dusen, though! Whaddup? I thought he was one of the contributors this year...

Took my vacation time last week, some much-needed relaxation up at the cottage. Terrible lull, and hardly a bird to be found, but I did catch a few loons as they drifted by. Had my very first 'sketchable' grouse encounter, but no sooner did I get started when a hiker appeared with a pair of Jack Russels -- and the bird was gone in a blink. As luck would have it I was treated to a second encounter before the end of the week, a pair of males displaying and having a bit of a tussle at the roadside before meandering off into the woods.

 

[jomo]

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[jomo]

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[timwootton]

Your drawings are what tinted paper and chinese white were invented for, y'know!
These loons are just spectacularly brilliant - the one with open-bill and the one rubbing its head on its back - superb pieces of field study - and a splendid piece of completion with the lsst colour work. At least the warblers that you did get managed to inspire some more beautiful drawings and well done with the grouse, lovely linework.

 

[nickderry]

your work really needs to be put under the entry for beautiful in an illustrated encyclopedia - always hits the spot!

 

[solitaryVSong]

A great collection of field work. Makes me want to head right out, and then instantly wonder how in the world you managed to get those fidgety warblers!

We saw a number of flocks of warblers at Magee Marsh in Ohio last week, probably not that far from you. But they wouldn't sit still long enough to identity, let alone draw! To me they're up at the top of the list of hard-to-draw birds, surpassed only perhaps by hummingbirds and the grassland sparrows that appear only momentarily in flight before dropping deep into the grasses.

 

[colleenc]

The loons are luscious! your drawings have a very special quality hard to define, maybe it's a form of love made visible.

Van Dusen was there to introduce Mr. Busby for the Master of the Year award, and he did a great job, he's a wonderful speaker, revealing some wonderful stories about drawing birds together.