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From Tim Wootton's Studio (1 Viewer)

Ploughing through some illustration work at the moment, but squeezed in a bit of necessary 'me-time' and over the past couple of days I've revisited a scene from last year. I wanted a bit more activity in the compositon and a 'rougher' feel to the vegetation.
Start Point Skuas, watercolour 22"x15"
 

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Everyone needs some 'me time.' And the results are great. There's something almost silvery about the Skuas. The light just keeps getting better and better! And then there's the appeal of the bird activity itself.

If it were me I'd don't know if this success would give me the stamina to continue on with the illustration work or just be more of a temptation to get back to this great vein of work. A beautiful result either way.
 
Such wonderfully impressionistic backgrounds! You seem to just daub a bit of this light green here, some of that other green over there, a bit of gray here and there and , poof, it looks just like grass, flowers and rocks. I'm always amazed and impressed!
I truly am looking forward to seeing your book, Tim. I am sure it will be of great aid to all us struggling bird painters here on the BF and every where else. I wish you great luck and prosperity with it.

Sid
 
Great interaction and tenseness captured between these two beauties. Love the way that your work springs to life - the way you paint things with almost minimal brushwork when looked at close-up, yet gains more realism and life when viewed from further away (hope that doesn't sound off coz it isn't meant to! Everyone knows you look at paintings from across a room, not with your nose 2" from it and the perceived detail is there which is something I have problems with as I tend to delve into too much detail - must be all that illustration work.....)
Keep 'em coming mate!
 
Continually in awe Tim!

Beautiful, and somewhat slightly menacing at the same time. I know these birds well, and I know "their ways!" The fact that i "backed-off" when I opened this must mean you've captured their spirits. Once I realised it was a painting, and in no danger whatsoever, I returned.

Stunned. Is all I can say! Remarkable!
 
Very nice, but I associate them with a good 100 miles off shore from here--occasionally. I'd love to visit Scotland, avian destination, not a pass through entirely. Nice rocks and stones, too. Lovely work, Tim, as usual.
 
I shouldn't have looked at this just before bedtime, I'll be pondering over how you did it all night now! Another superb addition to your signature species.
 
Fantastic skuas, Tim. I love the way the postures have been captured. Drawing the wings at angles like these is soooo difficult me thinks. It seems so easy to end up with them looking as 'add-on extras'.

An envious one.
 
Okay, so it’s the first day of Stromness Shopping Week and it was bound to be a beautiful day. By the evening I was ready for a breath of fresh air after being stuck in the gallery all day for the sale of one b100dy card! £2.50 is not going to allow retirement any time soon. . . .

The weather was still very pleasant after dinner so I loaded the scope and tackle into the car and made for my nearest skua colony – Yesnaby. Lugging the Nikon and its video tripod a mile and a half with satchel of art gear and sketchbook was well worth it as I was greeted by a dark phase skua on the moor. Binoculars on the ground and as I’m just swinging the scope of my shoulders there’s a ‘crack!’ – the scope’s weight has snapped the screw off the tripod shoe – ah super! Birds are too far away for binoculars – drawing through, at any rate, but I have a quick scan of the scene and locate a pale-headed skua. I’m pretty sure what it is but I have to get the scope hand-held onto the bird – a fully fledged arctic skua youngster! Now let’s no longer mince words about this bird – if they were the commonest bird on the planet they would still grace any orni-porni site, as it is they are looking down the barrel of permanent oblivion which makes this sight every so slightly welcome.

But the scope’s knackered. I try to bind the thing to the tripod with the strap which is fairly successful until; I realise that in doing so I’ve also fastened the barrel focus tightly too – fecking hell! Off it comes and I realise there’s no way to make it sit. But, by balancing the scope on the tripod head and moving it ever so carefully I can peer through the eyepiece and at my baby – gorgeous! I make a quick drawing in tone and just as I have got the hang of sing this delicately balanced rig, a fecking dog-walker comes over the brow and straight through the territory. Fecking w@nker – but my birds are at him and his mutt and I barely contain a laugh as this burly lad screams ‘fuck-off, **** off’ whilst waving his arms about at the dive-bombing skuas. Tit!

But it does give me the chance to see the chick can fly; albeit not with the sleek and graceful lines and curves s/he will (hopefully) achieve in the fullness of time. However it drops down behind the ridge and out of view. I’m just about to pack in when I notice one of the parents nearby. Again using the balancing act I train the scope and make a couple of drawings when from nowhere, the fog comes rolling over the hill obscuring just about everything. The joys of a warm day at the coast.

Then the chick is there again. And it’s doing something I’ve never seen – plucking at vegetation and eating it. Most curious and something I need to read up on. It’s hunched and shuffling gait recall its close relatives the gulls and it begs from its parent similarly; tapping on the bill in expectation. Then everything’s gone – the fog is total. I’m left with a trudge back to the car, dripping sketchbook and knackered tripod with barely a drawing in the book. But absolutely elated!
 

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I'm posting this but personally I now think it lacks a bit of definition in the background. I'll sleep on it . . . .
juv raven, 22"x15" watercolour
 

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the baby skua is a beauty, the raven is a fine looking piece, I think it just looks too busy in the background (smudge some of that pastel away and it may do something positive). Happily, my eyes can easily feast upon the raven alone.
 
And stunning skuas - some of which I saw in BBC Wildlife magazine. Congrats! :) I was so excited to see art by 3 familiar artists there.
 
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