Welcome to Nick's dining room table. (1 Viewer)

[timwootton]

you know, I may scrub out those buntings and just have the harrier! I've got the other version of this finished, so I can play however I want now.

It's your piece Nick - but I think they add a tangible sense of perspective to the painting. Whatever - it'll be just fine either way.

 

[Strandman]

You busy boy- what a bagful. I glanced at the second Sand Martin pic in thumbnail, thought that's early for a brood of Peregrines to have fledged- then clicked on them and it all made sense.

 

[nickderry]

You busy boy- what a bagful. I glanced at the second Sand Martin pic in thumbnail, thought that's early for a brood of Peregrines to have fledged- then clicked on them and it all made sense.

they are rather gargantuan in that pic, and though recognisable as sand martins, have none of their character, that's why I had to do a more delicate version with smaller birds.

 

[nickderry]

Bee Eaters finally finished, and I knocked out this quick collage of the Bluethroat. Just to get out of the house, went to Osselle in the afternoon, very pleased to see 2 Wood sandpiper and Temminck's Stint. The stint is TINY! First time I've ever seen one in close company with other birds - including some odd comparisons!

 

[nickderry]

and the sketches from yesterday

 

[timwootton]

Another dose of sublimity -many thanks. The colour work speaks for itself; vibrancy and buzzy thrill of the bee-eaters and it's informnative to see how the sketch book sheet translates almost verbatum into the colour piece for the wader pic. The brightest diamond in a whole sackful of gems for me is the sandmartin (and, probably the waggy) sketch - such a sense of place and time in the scene - lovely.

 

[Woody]

I still cannot work out how it is that you can produce so much top notch work in the time that you do, give me a pint of what he's having!

Bee-eaters are in-yer-face colour, which is just as I imagine them (not ever having seen the real deal...) That pic ould cheer up the gloomiest of gloomy. As would the charming little blue throat. And Tim's not wrong to mention the wags either, all great stuff.

Mike

 

[mark richards]

I agree with woody ,how do you knock them out so quick!!!! is it them herbs that you are growing on your window sill....:t:

 

[nickderry]

I agree with woody ,how do you knock them out so quick!!!! is it them herbs that you are growing on your window sill....:t:

Just mint I'm afraid, nothing as exciting as it seems.

Went back to Osselle yesterday in the afternoon to see what else had turned up, the Temminck's had gone, as had the Wood Sands, new in was a Purple Heron and the first Whinchat of the year for me. Worryingly, there are still no shrikes back.

 

[mark richards]

saying that nick, it is Worryingly..my local patch which has a few numbers of wood warblers, still none in. treepipits very few on last year..piedflys only a few back, I only hope that its not the trend..... birding so far this year has been crap..

 

[Woody]

That heron's got a neck like a road map, great angles. And you've gotta love whinchats, if they're common in your area I'll just have to be insanely jealous.

Mike

 

[timwootton]

Ha - I saw and drew a whinchat last night - In my b100dy sleep!!!! - what does that make me? And here's a truly dreamy sheet of whinchats to go with the sand martins (something really good is going to derive from these, nodoubt). Heron is a stunner.

 

[nickderry]

Take one outline drawing of a scene of waders, decide it's not right and think what to do with it.
Tear it up into smaller pieces and arrange in a composition that seems more natural.
In the shower wet the pieces so they'll stick better.
Stick them.
Add colourful bits of paper.

Wake up next day and think, "where to go from here?"

 

[Strandman]

Take one outline drawing of a scene of waders, decide it's not right and think what to do with it.
Tear it up into smaller pieces and arrange in a composition that seems more natural.
In the shower wet the pieces so they'll stick better.
Stick them.
Add colourful bits of paper.

Wake up next day and think, "where to go from here?"

Pic 3 reminds me of a photo I once saw of an anaconda stalking waterbirds in the Pantanal.

Congrats on the tiny stint- there's almost non-one out there who dares to draw them as small as they really are.

 

[nickderry]

done, there is a scale problem with the Wood Sands being too big, this is the problem of working on a flat surface, they look fine next to each other as outlines, then when you put the paint on and create a distance between them, they seem to go a little mad.

 

[buzzard12]

Bee Eaters finally finished, and I knocked out this quick collage of the Bluethroat. Just to get out of the house, went to Osselle in the afternoon, very pleased to see 2 Wood sandpiper and Temminck's Stint. The stint is TINY! First time I've ever seen one in close company with other birds - including some odd comparisons!

These are brilliant Nick. Bee Eaters are vibrant joy on a page, colours a blaringly good, love it.

You are seeing a lot of the same species as me at the moment, had a Temmincks yesterday, 45 Wood Sands and a couple of Commons today amongst others, along with some wagtails! These are from the very top drawer Nick, a pleasure to view them...

 

[buzzard12]

done, there is a scale problem with the Wood Sands being too big, this is the problem of working on a flat surface, they look fine next to each other as outlines, then when you put the paint on and create a distance between them, they seem to go a little mad.

You could argue the Wood Sands and Sand Martins are perfectly in scale and that it's the Temmincks and Common in the foreground that are too small!

Personally I don't think it matters a lot. This is a really fine painting Nick and a fine summary of the two paintings that went before it, I really like it a hell of a lot.

 

[nickderry]

Got quite upset last night, after wasting the entire day on t'internet because of a train strike preventing me from going to work, to discover that a pair of Black-winged Stilts had been present all afternoon at Osselle, and that they are rarer than I expected them to be round here. So, after an almost sleepless night thinking about them, I got up at 4:30am and arrived just before dawn in constant rain. There was just enough light to drive into position without headlights (didn't want to spook them now did I!) I couild hear a nightingale singing and a few frogs, and there was a sodding dog walker - at 5:30am, in the pouring rain! As the light started to gather, I began to scan the distant shore, a few blobs of mallard were recognisable, and a grey heron looking for all the world like an egret, being so pale against the darkness. And then there they were, bright white and leaving a light trail as they half minced, half glided along the edge of the water, only the white parts visible.
Worth the effort, it was difficult to follow them, as I was birding from the car with all the rain, and now the vegetation has started to grow up a bit, it's not always possible to see all of the shore. Other things sketched were a Yellow-legged Gull, a sopping wet Yellow Wagtail and the Sand Martins.

 

[nickderry]

and the rest, now off for a nap before I get down to painting!

 

[Woody]

This is Derry in top form! Describing form, structure and action in so few lines taking in so much. Inspirational.

Mike