revivingKensArt (2 Viewers)

[phil baber]

Just superb! Making the Woody a detail. Even tho' it's very important. And a great find. But the Bladdernut wins. The combination and the story behind that is edifying, and makes the piece work beautifully!

 

[solitaryVSong]

Thanks all.

The thing I think I've learned from this is that it's important to look at everything you see, not just the birds. You never know when sketching something else will then lead you onto a new bird painting. I do think that the forest is just so overpowering when all leafed out in spring and summer. In fall when you can start to see the structure of things it's easier to sketch and paint it.

 

[Lykos]

the woodpecker is great...

 

[solitaryVSong]

These won't be everyone's cup of tea due to their sloppiness but both I think could lead to something. Another version of the Red-headed Woodpecker and Bladdernut this time with water soluble crayons. And a ball point pen, watercolor and white gouache sketch of Black Tern along with Common and Forster's Terns.


Either or both will probably evntually become prints or acrylic paintings.

 

[colleenc]

terns have the making of a nice lino I think

 

[username]

That red headed woodpecker comp is a stunner Ken...i was immediately drawn to the colours and structure....excellent....:t:

 

[timwootton]

Compelling images as they are - look forward to the next stages of development.

 

[resparza]

I like the woodpecker picture. It feels something like: "These are nice looking bladdernuts, aren't they?... Hey look! A cool woodpecker just stopped by!".

 

[solitaryVSong]

Thanks Rodrigo,Tim, Colleen, user. I had hoped my next work would be a more developed version of those last two. I do like the sense of 'Oh yes, there's also a woodpecker there, Rodrigo.'

I was out doing the thrilling job of scraping some old paint off our back porch so I could put a fresh coat on before cold weather gets here. Then I heard a neighbor yell to another neighbor that a bird had just flown into his picture window. The owner of the window yelled out he thought it was a thrush.

So I went over to check the ID and health of bird. It was a beautiful Hermit Thrush. He seemed stunned but within a few minutes seemed to recover and flew away. I brought neither camera nor sketchbook. But I did feel like I ought to record it somehow or other.

We also had one in our garden early this spring. So this small watercolor is based on a photo from then. The only difference now is that the background foliage is brown rather than green. The dark is spent sunflower seeds from our feeder.

There are a couple of small things I think are wrong with bird but I've decided not to advertise them.

 

[colleenc]

a little jewel...are the feet that big? I don't know haven't seen one that I know of.

 

[solitaryVSong]

a little jewel...are the feet that big? I don't know haven't seen one that I know of.

Actually they are Colleen. I almost always have to make the feet bigger than I think they should be if I'm looking at a photo because the photo shows how really large they are. I've noticed this particularly on Hermit Thrushes for some reason but I don't know if that's just a coincidence or if they have particularly large feet. I've always wondered about this. My guess is that birds on the ground have feet that look much larger because they are not curled around something as they are when they're perched on a branch.

I'd guess also that if you were just sketching from life you wouldn't see enough detail to see how large they were. Of course if this thrush had stuck around maybe I could have done a sketch from life to test out the theory. It was so nice to see just feet away. But I think that was only because he was stunned from hitting the window. Once he came to his senses he was gone.

 

[Strandman]

These won't be everyone's cup of tea due to their sloppiness but both I think could lead to something. Another version of the Red-headed Woodpecker and Bladdernut this time with water soluble crayons. And a ball point pen, watercolor and white gouache sketch of Black Tern along with Common and Forster's Terns.


Either or both will probably evntually become prints or acrylic paintings.

I've been neglecting to comment- but this is a particularly enticing twosome, part of the attraction with the terntableau that you can see how it might lead to one of your print series

 

[timwootton]

Superb Hermit thrush - identifiable immediately from the thumbnail (not that that's at all relevant to the art). I think your supposition re the feet size on flat surfaces is correct, Ken - they're usually seen wrapped, so when unfurled can look ridiculously long. Again - not that this matters to the art. Great piece.

 

[phil baber]

Love them all. But the Tern study has me excited!

 

[solitaryVSong]

Thanks all. I'm sure there are some prints or acrylic paintings ahead. If I do prints I'm really not sure which will come first, the terns or the bladdernut and red-headed woodpecker. Most likely I need to do some more planning if the woodpecker is to work as a print..............

As I said earlier about the red-headed it is only reported every few years in Philadelphia, though it's not uncommon 50-100 miles away. So it was a great find. But now it turns out that others have been seeing it where I found it. So it's been here for 10 days. For anyone who cares about seeing birds in Philadelphia it's been a great opportunity. I'm told that they nested here in 19th century but have been absent for over 100 years. It would be great if they started nesting again. If so I imagine it's because so many of their regular sites have been developed.........

 

[Rahul Parekh]

Very colourful...lovely study & observation

 

[buzzard12]

Hi Ken,

Nice job on the Hermit Thrush. Stunning little birds and I still remember my first at Toronto's High Park like it was yesterday!
What I really dropped in to heap praise on is the cracking tern piece, a brilliant little piece of observation that made my day...

 

[solitaryVSong]

Thanks Rahul, Alan. Alan I have to confess that the terns are based on a photo. I wish I could say that I did them from life but sad to say I didn't.

On the other hand the House Sparrows below were done from life today. They were feeding frantically at my studio window feeder, preparing for snow no less!! I don't believe I've ever seen snow in Philadelphia in October. But the forecast is for 6-10 inches, at least two months early.

I'm continuing to experiment with quick drawings with a Bic pen, topped by water and watercolor. The ink runs very badly but I like it. It's a very quick way to turn a drawing into a painting.

The other work here is based on a photo of the immature Little Blue Heron from this summer, with a Painted Turtle conveniently facing the opposite direction. It always struck me as a possible painting or print, as long as I didn't make it too cute. So this is an experiment to see whether it might be worth developing.

 

[timwootton]

Definitely worth progressing - just a wee crop above and it's a painting as it stands. Love these sparrow studies - such difficult birds to get ritht and here they are as spritely as in real life. Tip top!

 

[JTMB]

Good job on the Hermit Thrush, Ken, and I'm glad he survived the unfortunate meeting with your window! I try to keep our windows a bit grimy (at least that's the excuse I give my spouse...honey, it's only to help the birds see the glass) but occasionally we still get a victim. Great job on the House Sparrow sketches as well. I almost hate to say it given they're an invasive species, but I miss seeing them...they have gotten quite scarce around our house and neighborhood. Not sure why, but it seems strange after taking pains to prevent them from nesting in our bluebird and swallow boxes in previous years where they were pests.