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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Jomo's Sketchbook (2 Viewers)

Beautifully executed watercolour - very strong composition putting the emphasis exactly where it should be. Stunning painting.
 
No Ho

Photographers have been flocking to the favourite haunt of this rather tame Northern Hawk Owl for weeks now, and today I drove down to Stoney Creek for a peek. I met up with another birder a few hundred feet down the tracks, and together we waited for him to make an appearance. We didn't have to wait long. After an hour and a half of staring through the scope I was starting to feel a little cross-eyed, so I took a break to go find a Timmies for a tea (and to thaw out the cheeks!). Upon my return, a new throng of onlookers had arrived, but now the owl was quite distant. A few birders grew tired of waiting in the cold for him to come closer and left, but no sooner had they done so when the owl glided over, swooped low over our heads, and settled down barely 20 feet away. Had the weather been a little more hospitable I would have filled a lot more pages, but I suppose I'll just have to go back next weekend! What a great bird.
 

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stunning stuff! Very intimate sketching of what I can only imagine to be a very exciting bird to see. I want one! You've got the subtle angles on the head very well. When I draw owls they always look as though they've been distorted like a Modigliani.
 
This is one bird I have always wanted to see in the flesh. These are fab drawings and a great account - hope he's around next weekend so we can see more. Lovely work.
 
What a bird to see! I've seen them in captivity but a wild one would be something special indeed! The full body sketch on the middle page is ready to paint, I hope he stuck around for more sketching too.

All the best for 2008

Woody
 
Much appreciated, all! Nick, I'll make you a deal: box me up your wallcreeper and ship him over (priority airmail, let's not be cruel), and I'll send you my owl. And once you're done with him, perhaps he can serve as some leverage to get Tim to wrangle up a bluethroat.

First painting of 2008 -- one of the winter irruptives to show up in Guelph this past month. My resolution is to do more of this sort of thing this year -- you know, actual painting and all, where I even finish things in terms of days instead of months. Perhaps I ask too much...
 

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Love the Hawk Owl sketches and like many others am impatiently waiting to catch up on one of these beasties!
Pine Grosbeak is a super litle painting. Funnily enough Guelph was one of my first stops in Canada. Amongst others saw my first Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, Junco and Mourning Dove there in mid November!
 
soft and muted, makes the crisp colour of the berries leap forward, this one is a real beauty. Let's make 2008 one for plenty of great work like this!
 
More Winter Owls

I've long been aware of the Metz' reputation as a good place to track down Snowy Owls, and given that it's less than an hour away I should have made this trip long ago. I'm completely cursed when it comes to finding owls on my own, however, so it was without great expectations that I headed out at noon (in search of white birds, in white fields, on a white snowy day, no less). I ended up with two gorgeous females, lazily looking as if they'd sat around all day waiting for me to show up. Between owls, I ran across a flock of thirty Wild Turkeys feeding in a corn field -- birds I always mistake for livestock when I first spot them, because birds just shouldn't be that big! Three Rough-leggeds, scores of Snow Buntings and some cooperative Common Redpolls finished off the winter bird theme.
 

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Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!!!! Magical drawings of some very special birds - extremely envious of your talent (and location). Make one of these snowies into a painting, please - while the memory's really fresh.
 
YES! YES! YES! Beautifully caught owls! I second Tim's comment, paint the snowy soon.
Fabulous work, fabulous birds.

Mike
 
I've long been aware of the Metz' reputation as a good place to track down Snowy Owls, and given that it's less than an hour away I should have made this trip long ago. I'm completely cursed when it comes to finding owls on my own, however, so it was without great expectations that I headed out at noon (in search of white birds, in white fields, on a white snowy day, no less). I ended up with two gorgeous females, lazily looking as if they'd sat around all day waiting for me to show up. Between owls, I ran across a flock of thirty Wild Turkeys feeding in a corn field -- birds I always mistake for livestock when I first spot them, because birds just shouldn't be that big! Three Rough-leggeds, scores of Snow Buntings and some cooperative Common Redpolls finished off the winter bird theme.


A quite stunning series of field sketches of the very highest standard. Owls are probably the species i find most difficult of all strangely, have no idea why, may be the lack of seeing them much, perhaps more to do with the large rounded shapes which makes it harder to get points of reference. however, no such difficulties are apparent here, tremedous work.....
 
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