phil baber
Clipped Wing
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Mike's conservatory (16 Viewers)
- Thread starter Woody
- Start date
Woody
Well-known member
Sorry Phil! This flu hasn't finished with me yet it seems; Right into my sinuses now just to add to the fun.
Ok, so Singapore...
What a fabulous place! I loved every minute of my time there, I'm a sucker for the heat and even the humidity, which are the two things that hit you right off the bat. After our emotional meetings at Changi airport we were driven the half hour or so to our friends' condo. The sights and sounds along the way were overwhelming, there was just so much to see because everything was new. The light is 'cleaner', vision seems sharper, every movement demands attention from excited eyes scanning for birds. Mynas are everywhere, like starlings or feral pigeons here, but I had no clue as to what I was looking at really.
It took a couple of days just to calm down enough to get the sketchbook out instead of snapping away with the camera at every opportunity. To begin with, my attention flickered from one thing to another, I was determined to notice every bird and take pictures for the record. I'm not a lister but just this time I thought it would be a good idea and it's come out at over 60 species (not all unfamiliar).
The two main birdy spots for me were a public area on a hill behind the condo where I went almost every morning for an hour or two, and Sungei Buloh (Bamboo river) Wetland Reserve that I was able to visit three times during my stay. We also spent a day on the straits of Johor on a small boat, made an overnight visit to Malaysia and my friends' balcony made a pretty comfy viewpoint too.
So here's the first batch of fumbling sketches. I had two sketchbooks on the go, one A4 and one A5 so the order may be a bit jumpy, but it's interesting to me thae way the sketches got more confident over the time as I became at least a little bit more familiar with some of the regulars.
First up a sheet from my first morning, you can see that I spent my time making comparisons with more familiar species since that was my only frame of reference before I bought a book. The raptor was probably a changeable hawk eagle but perhaps not. The treat for the first balcony session was a Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker. A passenger from the airport departure lounge which was a pretty tedious place to be honest. The olive backed sunbird visited the heliconia flowers on the balcony just a couple of yards away and my hand shook as I sketched something so exotic to me. In the rain tree that I could see from the balcony a raquet tailed drongo landed briefly and I only had time for his tail before he disappeared.
Mike
Ok, so Singapore...
What a fabulous place! I loved every minute of my time there, I'm a sucker for the heat and even the humidity, which are the two things that hit you right off the bat. After our emotional meetings at Changi airport we were driven the half hour or so to our friends' condo. The sights and sounds along the way were overwhelming, there was just so much to see because everything was new. The light is 'cleaner', vision seems sharper, every movement demands attention from excited eyes scanning for birds. Mynas are everywhere, like starlings or feral pigeons here, but I had no clue as to what I was looking at really.
It took a couple of days just to calm down enough to get the sketchbook out instead of snapping away with the camera at every opportunity. To begin with, my attention flickered from one thing to another, I was determined to notice every bird and take pictures for the record. I'm not a lister but just this time I thought it would be a good idea and it's come out at over 60 species (not all unfamiliar).
The two main birdy spots for me were a public area on a hill behind the condo where I went almost every morning for an hour or two, and Sungei Buloh (Bamboo river) Wetland Reserve that I was able to visit three times during my stay. We also spent a day on the straits of Johor on a small boat, made an overnight visit to Malaysia and my friends' balcony made a pretty comfy viewpoint too.
So here's the first batch of fumbling sketches. I had two sketchbooks on the go, one A4 and one A5 so the order may be a bit jumpy, but it's interesting to me thae way the sketches got more confident over the time as I became at least a little bit more familiar with some of the regulars.
First up a sheet from my first morning, you can see that I spent my time making comparisons with more familiar species since that was my only frame of reference before I bought a book. The raptor was probably a changeable hawk eagle but perhaps not. The treat for the first balcony session was a Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker. A passenger from the airport departure lounge which was a pretty tedious place to be honest. The olive backed sunbird visited the heliconia flowers on the balcony just a couple of yards away and my hand shook as I sketched something so exotic to me. In the rain tree that I could see from the balcony a raquet tailed drongo landed briefly and I only had time for his tail before he disappeared.
Mike
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Woody
Well-known member
A sheet of flight scribbles, it's easy to see that I was struggling for the shapes. The branches of the rain tree with its vines drooping down. This vine grew all over anything static, bridges, buildings and all the trees. Pink necked pigeons offered at least a familiar shape but in designer colours. Black naped orioles astounded me at first, gorgeous, glowing yellow with pink beaks. There were so many that by the time I left I was dismissing them (almost!). Yellow vented bulbuls were another bird that appeared everywhere. I was pleasantly surprised to find that white collared kingfishers were another very common sight (and sound).
Mike
Mike
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Woody
Well-known member
A scaly breasted munia. I recognised this as a caged bird in the UK so at least I knew it was a munia! There was a group of five or six birds that would descend on the hillside each morning and forage for grass seeds. Pink necked pigeons behaved very much like our wood pigeons and the trees would be full of fat looking bodies every morning until the sun struck the treetops. There was a pair of White collared kingfishers living around the hill and I began to get to grips with them a bit after a while. I took the sketchpad down to the pool area just in case and recorded the view. I also did quite a few sketches of Tina but they are not for public consumption!
Mike
Mike
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Woody
Well-known member
A woodpecker species was fairly regular, very similar to green woodpeckers, two of the three birds had a black cap and one a red cap. They weren't in my book but I've since managed to ID them as Laced Woodpeckers. Raquet tailed drongos were pretty common and noisy too, being essentially a black bird I had difficulty in seeing the right structures. It was obvious early on that my optics were inadequate but it was not practical to take my scope. A sparkle of stunning red revealed a gem of a bird; Crimson sunbird. By an area of abandoned railway I found a pair of sulphur crested cockatoos, feral I think. I realised I had no clue how a parrot's beak is attached to its face! According to my book Lineated Barbet is a Northern speciality. Apparently nobody told the ones that were living around the hill.
More later.
Mike
More later.
Mike
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timwootton
Well-known member
Brilliant, Mike - the whole thing; the drawings, the prose - the sense of place is dripping from each page. I bet you've got hundreds of ideas for paintings and colourwork stacking up now - you're going to be very busy over the winter months and these sketchbooks will be just the tonic for the dark days of winter- each drawing will refresh that experience of the tropics. Marvellous - the excitement is tangible.
solitaryVSong
Well-known member
As much as I love your bird sketches I'm glad that you included here some of the landscape itself. It all adds up to a very exciting visual sketchbook of the entire experience.
Get completely well soon. Then you have this wealth of sketching to feed your creative urges for the months ahead. Wouldn't have expected anything less from you! Not quite like being there I'm sure. But still that sense of excitement at being there is tangible as Tim says.
Woody
Well-known member
There was a canal running not too far away and one morning I forsook the hill and took a walk along it. To get to it I had to walk through a 'HDB', it's somewhat like a council estate in so far as it is social housing provided by the government. But that's where the similarity ends. Everywhere was clean, tidy, there was no graffiti anywhere, no litter, and even though I was carrying bins and a camera and was obviously a tourist I felt absolutely safe. The people were all friendly and on more than one occasion I was drawn into conversations which ended with me getting the locals' advice on where to see what. Little herons, aka, striated herons were abundant and one was fishing from a small sandbar mid-water. Unlike the grey herons and egrets of home these guys stalk their small prey at a crouch.
From a different day up on the hill, a white crested laughing thrush. I'm not sure these are native to Singapore but there was a group of seven or so birds that roamed the hill like a gang, loudly shouting at each other as they foraged through the fallen leaves, tossing them in the air in a frenzy.
A morning of rain and I sat on the balcony and sketched a towel hanging to dry from the previous day's swim.
At the top of the hill there was a small BBQ pit with a shelter and a seat. Because the shelter was at the very top of the hill I could see directly into the tops of trees further down the slope giving me a level view with any goings on. Almost every morning a black naped oriole perched in the sun on a bare branch and preened. I grew quite fond of him and, because of the relative familiarity, I was able to get some fairly accurate sketches done.
Equally, I learned more about the long tailed parakeets as time went on and at least this one doesn't look like he's wearing a party hat strapped to the front of his head!
Mike
From a different day up on the hill, a white crested laughing thrush. I'm not sure these are native to Singapore but there was a group of seven or so birds that roamed the hill like a gang, loudly shouting at each other as they foraged through the fallen leaves, tossing them in the air in a frenzy.
A morning of rain and I sat on the balcony and sketched a towel hanging to dry from the previous day's swim.
At the top of the hill there was a small BBQ pit with a shelter and a seat. Because the shelter was at the very top of the hill I could see directly into the tops of trees further down the slope giving me a level view with any goings on. Almost every morning a black naped oriole perched in the sun on a bare branch and preened. I grew quite fond of him and, because of the relative familiarity, I was able to get some fairly accurate sketches done.
Equally, I learned more about the long tailed parakeets as time went on and at least this one doesn't look like he's wearing a party hat strapped to the front of his head!
Mike
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phil baber
Clipped Wing
Amazing taste of your carnet de voyage Mike!
And a perfect slice of being a stanger in a strange land. Wonderful expl in oring sketches, and a sense of the evolution of understanding and familiarisation with new subjectsa new land.
Get well soon!
And a perfect slice of being a stanger in a strange land. Wonderful expl in oring sketches, and a sense of the evolution of understanding and familiarisation with new subjectsa new land.
Get well soon!
Woody
Well-known member
My first visit to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve was a quick afternoon with the family and our friends. My lot don't like to walk too far and are incapable of patience. They were quite impressed with the Malayan water monitor lizards that inhabit the reserve, the big golden orb spiders and St. Andrew's cross spiders hanging menacingly overhead and the endearing smooth otters but it wasn't a 'proper' visit for me.
I arranged to spend a day on the reserve while the ladies went shopping on Orchard Road and my son Ben had a quiet day watching dvds and enjoying the sofa etc. in the way that uni students do. After a somewhat hair-raising cab ride I arrived fairly early and made my way to the bridge which crosses Sungei Buloh Besar and was treated to the sight of an Esturine Crocodile cruising about in the shallows beside the bridge. My friend visits the reserve often to paint and in the six years that she's been living in Singapore she has only seen crocs twice, so I count myself lucky to have spotted this magnificent beast on only my second visit.
The landscape is far removed from what I'm used to, the vegetation is all unfamiliar and even the mud of the tidal lakes is strewn with large molusc shells and crawling with mudskippers, those bizzare fish that think they're newts. A white collared kingfisher hunted from an exposed post above a palm and he went in the book. A milky stork flew over and I scribbled a quick impression. I later discovered that the milky storks seen on the reserve are free flying residents of the nearby Jurong bird park, but they are native to the area so that counts in my book!
After a short while it began to rain as only it can in the tropics and I had to take shelter in one of the hides until it abated a bit. It didn't stop raining for the rest of the day but it did slow enough to allow me to walk the rest of the paths. Whilst I was trapped in the hide I made the most of it and drew the 'jungle' scene by the path.
Mike
I arranged to spend a day on the reserve while the ladies went shopping on Orchard Road and my son Ben had a quiet day watching dvds and enjoying the sofa etc. in the way that uni students do. After a somewhat hair-raising cab ride I arrived fairly early and made my way to the bridge which crosses Sungei Buloh Besar and was treated to the sight of an Esturine Crocodile cruising about in the shallows beside the bridge. My friend visits the reserve often to paint and in the six years that she's been living in Singapore she has only seen crocs twice, so I count myself lucky to have spotted this magnificent beast on only my second visit.
The landscape is far removed from what I'm used to, the vegetation is all unfamiliar and even the mud of the tidal lakes is strewn with large molusc shells and crawling with mudskippers, those bizzare fish that think they're newts. A white collared kingfisher hunted from an exposed post above a palm and he went in the book. A milky stork flew over and I scribbled a quick impression. I later discovered that the milky storks seen on the reserve are free flying residents of the nearby Jurong bird park, but they are native to the area so that counts in my book!
After a short while it began to rain as only it can in the tropics and I had to take shelter in one of the hides until it abated a bit. It didn't stop raining for the rest of the day but it did slow enough to allow me to walk the rest of the paths. Whilst I was trapped in the hide I made the most of it and drew the 'jungle' scene by the path.
Mike
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Woody
Well-known member
Back on the hill in the mornings 'my' black naped oriole was still favouring his preening perch and I was happy to watch him as long as he was happy to let me.
Although the white vented mynas are the commonest bird on Singapore, (and that's official think), they were a constant source of amusement to me as they strutted about with a ludicrous stride and a manic look in their beady little eyes. I thought of them like Fagin's gang, ready to nip in and rob you if your attention wandered, they are great little characters and I know that I will have to paint them at least a couple of times. The Lineated Barbets would show up regularly too and, despite their odd and alien look, my confidence with them continued to grow.
Later in the day, from the shade of the balcony with a g+t to hand, I 'field sketched' the branches of the raintree in acrylics before we set off for the British Club for a very civilised dinner on the verandah watching the Macaques in the sunset. I love Singapore...
Mike
Although the white vented mynas are the commonest bird on Singapore, (and that's official think), they were a constant source of amusement to me as they strutted about with a ludicrous stride and a manic look in their beady little eyes. I thought of them like Fagin's gang, ready to nip in and rob you if your attention wandered, they are great little characters and I know that I will have to paint them at least a couple of times. The Lineated Barbets would show up regularly too and, despite their odd and alien look, my confidence with them continued to grow.
Later in the day, from the shade of the balcony with a g+t to hand, I 'field sketched' the branches of the raintree in acrylics before we set off for the British Club for a very civilised dinner on the verandah watching the Macaques in the sunset. I love Singapore...
Mike
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Mackem George
Well-known member
some great work there mike plenty detail that will keep you busy,hope you soon feeling well, then onto the blog eh
george
george
Woody
Well-known member
My second full day at Sungei Buloh saw a much more comfortable cab journey with a very nice driver of Malay descent who was very keen to tell me of his position as a holder of a British passport. A friendly chap he kept me entertained with information about the places we were passing and stories of his uncle who had lived on Sungei Buloh and made a living farming prawns before the area's designation as a reserve and his 'resettling' elsewhere. I got the impression that the driver was OK with it but his uncle was not so keen!
The weather behaved too and the sun blazed throughout the day. There are a couple of freshwater pools on the reserve and they are the haunt of bright red dragonflies with an endearing habit of sitting on the highest points of a waterside bush and sticking their rears into the air, presumably sun-bathing.
Tailorbirds are like large wrens in their appearance and, to an extent, their behavior, it was great to catch glimpses of them flitting through the trees. One of my biggest frustrations of the trip though was that the birds hardly ever seemed to sit still and they are small but the leaves are many and large!
I didn't see any hawks or falcons on my trip but the Brahminy kites were pretty much ubiqitous, on SBWR I watched and photographed a Brahminy buzzing a much larger immature Whie Bellied Sea Eagle.
I'd glimpsed a purple heron on my first visit but I'd not managed any shots so I thought it was a possibility that my first passing glance might also have been my last but on this day the reserve was thick with them. I loved the way their twisty, turny necks mirrored the mangrove roots.
Mike
The weather behaved too and the sun blazed throughout the day. There are a couple of freshwater pools on the reserve and they are the haunt of bright red dragonflies with an endearing habit of sitting on the highest points of a waterside bush and sticking their rears into the air, presumably sun-bathing.
Tailorbirds are like large wrens in their appearance and, to an extent, their behavior, it was great to catch glimpses of them flitting through the trees. One of my biggest frustrations of the trip though was that the birds hardly ever seemed to sit still and they are small but the leaves are many and large!
I didn't see any hawks or falcons on my trip but the Brahminy kites were pretty much ubiqitous, on SBWR I watched and photographed a Brahminy buzzing a much larger immature Whie Bellied Sea Eagle.
I'd glimpsed a purple heron on my first visit but I'd not managed any shots so I thought it was a possibility that my first passing glance might also have been my last but on this day the reserve was thick with them. I loved the way their twisty, turny necks mirrored the mangrove roots.
Mike
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Woody
Well-known member
Still there?
Cracking on then...
Yellow vented bulbuls are one of the birds that I tried to 'zone out' from. Not because they weren't new and wonderful to me, but because they seemed to have an uncanny knack of looking like something other than yellow vented bulbuls every time I saw them. I'd catch a movement and home in on the culprit, through the foliage I'd glimpse something that looked like a yellow vented bulbul but this time it had no yellow, or no eyestripe, or it was green! But each time I thought I could add something new to the list the light would change or the angle would change and my strange and exotic new find resolved into yet another yellow vented bulbul.
And on the hill, my oriole repeated his performance and the white collared kingfishers continued to squeak like dogs toys vigorously chewed. One of the white crested laughing thrushes threw up his crest and turned into a charicature of himself. I made the note to remind myself later that what I'd drawn was for real. Every leaf and plant continued to delight.
One morning on the hill I looked up into the roof space of the shelter and saw a gecko clinging on upside down. I snapped a couple of shots and thougght no more about it. When I reviewd my pics later I realised that the gecko I'd photographed had an extra branch to his tail, a forked tail indeed, an odd creature made odder by accident or misfortune.
Mike
Cracking on then...
Yellow vented bulbuls are one of the birds that I tried to 'zone out' from. Not because they weren't new and wonderful to me, but because they seemed to have an uncanny knack of looking like something other than yellow vented bulbuls every time I saw them. I'd catch a movement and home in on the culprit, through the foliage I'd glimpse something that looked like a yellow vented bulbul but this time it had no yellow, or no eyestripe, or it was green! But each time I thought I could add something new to the list the light would change or the angle would change and my strange and exotic new find resolved into yet another yellow vented bulbul.
And on the hill, my oriole repeated his performance and the white collared kingfishers continued to squeak like dogs toys vigorously chewed. One of the white crested laughing thrushes threw up his crest and turned into a charicature of himself. I made the note to remind myself later that what I'd drawn was for real. Every leaf and plant continued to delight.
One morning on the hill I looked up into the roof space of the shelter and saw a gecko clinging on upside down. I snapped a couple of shots and thougght no more about it. When I reviewd my pics later I realised that the gecko I'd photographed had an extra branch to his tail, a forked tail indeed, an odd creature made odder by accident or misfortune.
Mike
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Woody
Well-known member
I did say these might be a little out of chronological order didn't I? From a Sungei Buloh trip a familiar shape in unfamiliar surroundings. A little egret resting on one leg is unremarkable but this one was against a backdrop of mangrove roots.
Back to the hill and the mynas were always around foraging through the grass and goosestepping around the munias. 'The mynastry of silly walks' Sorry!
Here again too, the Lineated Barbet.
From Sungei Buloh again, my favourite sketch of the whole trip; A white throated kingfisher poised on a bare branch.
And, from my last morning on the hill, a mishmashup of oddments as I said goodbye with small scratches on a page.
I did not want to come down from that little hill.
Mike
Back to the hill and the mynas were always around foraging through the grass and goosestepping around the munias. 'The mynastry of silly walks' Sorry!
Here again too, the Lineated Barbet.
From Sungei Buloh again, my favourite sketch of the whole trip; A white throated kingfisher poised on a bare branch.
And, from my last morning on the hill, a mishmashup of oddments as I said goodbye with small scratches on a page.
I did not want to come down from that little hill.
Mike
Attachments
Last edited:
Woody
Well-known member
And so to the last few...
A rogue page of smooth otters from Sungei Buloh.
A large and juicy green caterpillar stopped from eating his cheeky meal of the leaves of my friend's lime bush on the balcony.
An awful watercolour of a crimson sunbird was ill advised but it reminded me that I paint in acrylics these days.
Macaques on the road to the British Club. There were wild monkeys on the side of the road...I somehow knew I wasn't in Kent anymore Toto.
A rogue page of smooth otters from Sungei Buloh.
A large and juicy green caterpillar stopped from eating his cheeky meal of the leaves of my friend's lime bush on the balcony.
An awful watercolour of a crimson sunbird was ill advised but it reminded me that I paint in acrylics these days.
Macaques on the road to the British Club. There were wild monkeys on the side of the road...I somehow knew I wasn't in Kent anymore Toto.
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Woody
Well-known member
Lastly then, as you all heave a sigh of collective relief, a couple of paintings that I did in a couple of the afternoons. From photos displayed on a laptop in front of me. A tree sparrow juv. I've tried for ages to catch up with tree sparrows here and they've so far eluded me. In Singapore they seem to replace our house sparrows in the heart of town. This one was on a bridge over the canal.
This oriental white eye demonstrates how tricky it can be simply to spot small and active birds in amongst the leaves.
The 'squeaky toy bird' White collared kingfisher.
There is also an incomplete blue throated bee-eater lurking in the back of my sketchpad but I'll keep that 'til it's finished.
If you've got this far with me then I thank you for your indulgence.
I have a ton of photographs and a few videos which will provide me with reference enough for one or two paintings in the future no doubt, but more importantly to me I have a head full of crystal clear memories of this trip of a lifetime. I truly loved every second of it.
Mike
This oriental white eye demonstrates how tricky it can be simply to spot small and active birds in amongst the leaves.
The 'squeaky toy bird' White collared kingfisher.
There is also an incomplete blue throated bee-eater lurking in the back of my sketchpad but I'll keep that 'til it's finished.
If you've got this far with me then I thank you for your indulgence.
I have a ton of photographs and a few videos which will provide me with reference enough for one or two paintings in the future no doubt, but more importantly to me I have a head full of crystal clear memories of this trip of a lifetime. I truly loved every second of it.
Mike
