Wings Over Winecountry, Colleen's place (1 Viewer)

colleenc · Jul 25, 2009

thanks Deborah, have to say the birds are so inspiring I already have more ideas to paint than I probably have life left to do it... I could spend a year or two just mastering the egrets

Here is a duck page, my second try at these, mallards, some in the direct wc style, still missing it but got a little closer. I've noticed this as a pattern, first drawings of new birds OMG:eek!:...second ones settling in but missing the small little changes that make it really be that bird, third to 10th, seeing something new each time and adding to the picture, and finally its "in my hand"... enough observation and practice has happened that the basic forms are known without a struggle and I can really begin to respond to what I see.

On this page is also a juve green heron, a partial chipmunk, and a red nappped sap sucker ( looked it up at home) and in this sentence is contained the pure joy that comes from being a new "birder". Suddenly one pays attention to everything around one at that time and things I would have missed completely because I was looking at the view or the "subject" come into play and expand the moment to timelessness, and one forgets all the "stuff" that usually fills our heads and prevents this.

colleenc · Jul 25, 2009

Sometimes have a problem getting attachments on this was supposed to go on the last post

"Also a flight page of gulls, filled in with wc sky,

The last is a wip of a pastel on the sunset shadows theme, there are now 3 ducks in it, about half way done here. Got to love those pastels that leave such velvety darks. "

timwootton · Jul 25, 2009

Ok - you've got me. The pastels are superb (in the right hands - and these are definitely in the right hands).

colleenc · Jul 25, 2009

Oh ho Tim, thats sweet music to my ears, I think I told you I'd get these words out of you eventually...on another thread somewhere here my direct quote "I'm going to make you eat your words about it,( pastel ) just wait till I get a better handle on the birds" I wrote that June 9th

Course without your shining example, I wouldn't be where I am today....also notice that there are very few pastels chosen for Birds in Art shows, so many artists must feel as you do.

deborah4 · Jul 26, 2009

Yep, pastel's definitely better in your hands than mine Colleen!|=)|

Woody · Jul 26, 2009

Terrific pastel work there, birds and light!

Mike

colleenc · Jul 26, 2009

thanks Deborah and Mike, I'm really treating this as a exercise in values, more than a painting of ducks, I think pastel is often underrated as a media, because of lack of experience of how it has changed from years ago when only a few kinds of pastel were available, and only a few paper surfaces.

What made a difference for me is finding sanded surfaces on stiff panels that can be wetted, that allow for a lot of layers, little dust and the possibility of very rich surfaces. It can be used for great detail or very loose that way. Add to that the explosion of brands available from Unison, Girault, Great America, and many more, a lot of them made by artists who were frustrated with the big commerical brands, and a whole new world opens up.

The best darks ever are Terry Ludwigs, which I'm using here, incredible richness and saturation. Pastel is the purest form of color you can use, basically pure pigment with a touch of binder. There is nothing that transmits light like pastel due to the crystalline structure.

So if you've ever tried it and thought oh no, I encourage you to try a sanded surface, I don't know what you have in the UK, but Le Cart is usually available but it cannot be wetted down, where as many others can. You can "paint" with pastel by using turps or water, and make it look like watercolor. (The pastel is laid on and brushed with water or turps and it melts and blends like watercolor.)

Maybe I'll do a wip here eventually,

colleenc · Jul 27, 2009

With several of the big guys off to the hills, we will have to hold down the fort here. B

I've finished the duck work, and may explore this more later, the title is now Twilight Mallards, so people will not miss there are ducks there:-O
I've included a detail so you can see there is a lot of color, mostly doesn't show on the big photo.

back to drawing ducks now to get more practice...and some of the birds from my last trip to Bodega Bay.

solitaryVSong · Jul 28, 2009

Very nice Colleen! I think in this one there's no need to give verbal hints as to the subject. I think most people will find at least one Mallard right away.

I'm really surprised at all of the new pastel makers. I haven't bought pastels in 10 years or more. In fact I had to just go check to see what brand I use (mainly Rembrandt with some Schminke). As I have time and cash I'll have to explore all these new brands that you mention.

I used to do a fair amount of abstract pastel work. But that was many years ago. Just recently I've added it to my charcoal drawings of birds. So it's nice to know that the pastel world is much larger than I last knew it. Of course I just learned it on my own. So even when I started with pastel it was much larger than I knew.

colleenc · Jul 28, 2009

I know they'll find one but don't want them to miss the others

I'm self taught in pastel as well, and just came back to it about 4 years ago, I did a few drawings about 30 years ago and that was it until now. It's my medium of choice, but find doing other media keeps me fresh and renews my viewpoint. I notice which ever one I choose oil or pastel, about half way through I wish I'd done the opposite

each has advantages

Went to the egret tree today for the first time with my scope, and my new bifocals....so strange, with the scope I want to draw large just unconsciously, so I made myself adapt on the second page, which has BC night heron juve and greats as well as a sketch with no scope for comparison.... and I took one off that page as my most successful life sketch ever. It may look like nothing, but it was amazing with the sparest of line and effort, I caught the difference between a snowy and a great, tho unless you've studied them for as many hours as I have it may not be apparent. Every line was perfect for that part of the form and no hesitation, it was exhilarating! notice it was flow alone, and didn't carry on to the other two.

deborah4 · Jul 28, 2009

Really fabulous effort with these Colleen. The second page as you say, some very accurate life drawings. Herons and Egrets make excellent subjects to practice on I find, since they generally move slower than other species/or pose motionless altogether!

It's made an obvious difference with your new scope. I don't have one unfortunately - had a portable one a few years ago which broke, so I just use lots of observation through binos, which I have to put down to actually draw - in some ways it's better for me it forces me to spend more time looking and less time putting pencil to paper ( and easier to manage with carrying stuff on public transport!!)

Interesting you mention bifocals - I presume you mean glasses? If so, I've been thinking of getting some of those, since there's now too much difference in my long and near hand vision to work from sketch to object without my eyes getting blurred after a while. I thought perhaps they might help?

colleenc · Jul 28, 2009

Thanks Deborah,
yes I do mean glasses, my first prescription pair, until now I've just used readers from the drugstore, but now there is too much difference in the near and far to do that. I really am happy I got them as they grind the lenses to really focus the light properly into the pupil, suddenly I can see alot of detail again and things are sharp. It's hard to get used to where the lenses cross over, but getting the hang of it. They made the bifocal part higher up for me so I can use them at the easel without tilting my head, but by slightly lowering them on my nose I can just look straight ahead for distance.

For those who have good eyes and haven't aged yet, really be glad and take advantage of it for when glasses come later in life they will never work like bare eyes do and some compromises must be made...It's alright the world just looks different and so the art adjusts...

solitaryVSong · Jul 28, 2009

deborah4 said:
Really fabulous effort with these Colleen. The second page as you say, some very accurate life drawings. Herons and Egrets make excellent subjects to practice on I find, since they generally move slower than other species/or pose motionless altogether!

It's made an obvious difference with your new scope. I don't have one unfortunately - had a portable one a few years ago which broke, so I just use lots of observation through binos, which I have to put down to actually draw - in some ways it's better for me it forces me to spend more time looking and less time putting pencil to paper ( and easier to manage with carrying stuff on public transport!!)

And I thought I was the only bird artist on this forum and throughout most of the world who was working with either no scope or a very inexpensive one!! But I think you're right Deborah in that it makes you look all the harder when you just have your binoculars. In any case I hope that you'll be able to get one too. You can't beat the price that Colleen paid.

Very nice sketches, Colleen. I do think exhilarating is the word! I'm just starting to get to that stage. In fact there's quite a ways to go. I just need to do more work in order to get to it. But I do know what you mean. That is the thrill of working from life.

Woody · Jul 28, 2009

It's always a thrill when a sketch captures something in just a few lines. Possibly my best sketch to date was of a marsh harrier in flight, there was no time to be worrying about details and I just somehow caught everything needed with a quick scribble.

Mike

colleenc · Jul 28, 2009

Mike and Ken, was just thinking it would be fun to have a thread where we put up our best or favorite sketches and say why they are that...it would be very instructive too I think to see just one sketch at a time with the artists comment....I'll run one up and see if anyone bites....

Re the scope, bin or just eyes thing. I've been thinking that over for some time now. And here is my experience and ideas about it.

Draw what you see is a truism in art. But in this case there are some considerations when we use aids. First with my bare eyes, there is little detail so I could paint like an impressionist that way. If I put my glasses on there will be clarity, but if the bird is small in a huge landscape, I can only paint a bit more detail. If I use bins, I will be drawing from memory, look then sketch what I focused on , a bit here and there and try to add it all up, but I will see more details and can add that to my eyes only sightings. Then using a scope, esp if the bird is fairly still, I can really see close up and put in details or I can get the feeling of being with the bird, but what am I really seeing as the scope alters and flattens things. Each way you are drawing what you see, but what you see is altered in many ways from just the eyes.

This is all fresh in my mind and experience since I've only been at it 2 months, and each new aid has opened a different way of seeing and drawing the bird. The scope of all of them is the farthest away from "what I see" and yet the most intimate with the bird. Since yesterday was my first real outing it's fresh and it's hard to put into words exactly but it's like the bird is "in" the scope, not "out there" like some sort of jewel in one of those little velvet ring boxes from the jewelry store, a precious gem isolated from the world, and this carries over I think into the art if you paint it on the spot like LJ does. Each view has it's own information and emotional experience that feeds the work you are attempting.

solitaryVSong · Jul 29, 2009

I'd just add one more type of seeing. It won't work for birds but it's related. For 2-3 years I drew detailed pen and ink drawings of insects I'd found and put under a dissecting microscope. I guess it's most like a scope. But still it allowed me to see things I just couldn't see with the naked eye.

All these ways of seeing have their place, especially from individual to individual. Since I've only sketched with my scope for a month or so, and not all that much longer with my bins, it's hard to make an informed evaluation.

If the birds were to come up close to me then I'd prefer to just use my eyes. But that's generally not the case. Then I prefer the scope, mainly because I can move more quickly from viewing the bird in the scope to getting what I see down on paper. With bins it just takes longer, generally because I use my bins with two hands so I have to stop and pick up the sketchbook. With the scope I can have it in one hand while still looking at the scope. So the image doesn't have to remain in my memory for as long before I try to put it down on paper. But as Deborah says, if you don't have a scope, you have to look harder. My guess is that it forces you to create a more solid, detailed image in memory. That's got to be a very good thing!

All this is probably obvious. In the end we all know that great art can be made in the most varied circumstances. Still it's fun to theorize about...........

peter mathios · Jul 30, 2009

I love the mood in the two waterfowl paintings!!

colleenc · Jul 31, 2009

Thanks Peter, it's actually only one painting with a detail shot

Just about done with this, still tweaking so if you see anything you question speak up....got into the same bind as Tim did, without a good solution, ie is this a painting about water, or gulls or rocks....who knows

like the other one of this area, it's good reporting but not a painting that moves me very much....oh well, it was good practice and I do like the center gull, this is my first try at that bird.

colleenc · Aug 1, 2009

I saw a small group of these for the first time, just as the light was really going..they were all in a small group by the shore, and I didn't have enough light to scope them, just grabbed a few sketches and really blurry photos...looked up when I got home...love to see what they look like flying
Black Turnstone skeches in watercolor

solitaryVSong · Aug 1, 2009

They have a great sense of movement and gesture, Colleen. I'd be very happy with them. Maybe it was best, at least for these sketches, not to have a scope.

Every time I see sketches like this I want to drop what I'm doing and get out in the field!

Wings Over Winecountry, Colleen's place (1 Viewer)

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