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B&W paintings (1 Viewer)

Nick Sinden

Nick Sinden

Well-known member
Hi..
I'm not great with computers so this is a bit of an experiment to see if my pictures upload properly! They are just black watercolour as I've not used colour for years...must try it again soon!..
I've been really impressed by the work of the contributors to this site, which I only found a couple of weeks ago but keep returning to. Anyway, here goes...
 

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A huge welcome from me too Nick!
Feel free to post more of these...
There is much of talent and knowledge here!

Paschalis
 
spizaetos said:
A huge welcome from me too Nick!
Feel free to post more of these...
There is much of talent and knowledge here!

Paschalis
Click to expand...

we seem to be going through one of those phases on here when new people pop up

how welcome

very smart skua and gull- looks spot on
 
Thanks very much Mark, Paschalis, Ed and Oivind for the positive comments!..
Here are some more watercolours. Apologies for the lack of habitat and colour, they were done as a bit of decoration for the local bird report.
Nick
 

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Thanks Arthur, Chris, Gaby, Ken and Matt for the welcoming comments - it is great to find a bunch of people enthusiastic about wildlife art...
I have injured my right shoulder (my drawing arm!) so won't be putting any new stuff on here for a few weeks, but here are a few more recent watercolours. These have a touch of white guache in them - I must have been feeling adventurous!
Nick
 

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Hi Nick,
Just admiring your brilliant b and w's! Very well done, sir. I too am finding my feet as an illustrator of bird reports (well that's the intention, anyway). I often feel b and w's don't get the recognition they deserve, especially when done as well as these. My black watercolours lack the finese of your works, so perhaps they'll inspire me to greater things.

Are these worked up from field sketches or pics, or a bit of both?

Keep up the excellent work.

Russ
 
Thanks Bigshent...Hawfinches are a real rarity around here unfortunately.

Russ...I've been looking through your epic thread and am very impressed - your field sketches put mine to shame!..I come away with what are more like little diagrams of interesting 'bits' of birds rather than a good likeness of the whole thing, especially when it's moving about. I then 'reassemble' the bird from my notes/memory/impressions when I'm back in the car or at home. The resulting annotated drawings will then often become the start of a painting. If so, I do check details against photos to try and prevent major blunders!..By the way, your latest set will look great in a bird report - good to hear from a fellow B&W enthusiast!
Nick
 
Wow, I've never tried painting in black and white before. I think I'm gonna be confused trying to do this by painting from a colour photo or real bird. You've done a great job, especially the sparrows, hawfinch and skua.
 
Nick Sinden said:
Thanks Bigshent...Hawfinches are a real rarity around here unfortunately.

Russ...I've been looking through your epic thread and am very impressed - your field sketches put mine to shame!..I come away with what are more like little diagrams of interesting 'bits' of birds rather than a good likeness of the whole thing, especially when it's moving about. I then 'reassemble' the bird from my notes/memory/impressions when I'm back in the car or at home. The resulting annotated drawings will then often become the start of a painting. If so, I do check details against photos to try and prevent major blunders!..By the way, your latest set will look great in a bird report - good to hear from a fellow B&W enthusiast!
Nick
Click to expand...

Ahh, this is very interesting, Nick. Perhaps this way of working is the way to go! I read that ace illustrator Killian Mularney approaches life drawing this way. Making sketches of bits of the bird until he has the confidence to tackle it from bill to tail in one go. I fall short most of the time because I try to capture the whole bird in one go, which is very difficult when the subject's moving, of course. Trouble is I don't like to rely on memory for more than a couple of seconds if I can help it. The old adage of drawing what you see, not what you think you see, is always in the fore.
Having said that, if one is to draw convincing birds in flight for example, (which I constantly aspire to do) then a visual memory is a must. Perhaps it can be developed. I always try to discipline myself only to draw what I see, so consequently I end up making loads of sketches. The results are often a bit chaotic, but i find there is an 'honesty' in the lines often missing in more measured, memorised lines.

Perhaps I'm talking XXXXXXXXs!

Great stuff, though. Really looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Russ
 
These are wonderful! Glad I'm back on the forum checking out new threads after being gone for too many weeks. Hope to see more of your work here!
 
tremendous work, they work so well. I have a complete inability to do line work so when I have to produce black and white work I use black watercolour - nowhere near as good as these though.
 
Thanks Russ, Ayuwat, John and Nick for the positive comments...

Russ - for me drawing a bird in flight always involves loads of rubbing out and redrawing of the wings until it 'feels' right...going back to it after a couple of days will then invariably mean more rubbing out and redrawing!

Here are a few pencil drawings from a while ago...
 

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