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From 2006 sketchbook (1 Viewer)

timwootton

Well-known member
From 2006 sketchbook (the S-eO sketch is the original drawing for the watercolour posted in Gallery).


www.tim-wootton.com
 

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VERY nice :clap:

Like ColonelBoris, I too am a wee bit behind that level LOL Persevering though....they are starting to actually LOOK like birds now ;)
 
Great stuff! You've really captured the stare of the owl here -- and it came through very well in the finished painting. Excellent work.
 
Fabulous work Tim. You obviously have the enviable ability to see the simple shapes and transfer that to the page. I think the long tailed duck illustrates that perfectly.

Woody
 
Last Of The Summer? (Whine, whine, whine)

We've had an attrocious couple of days here, out on 'the edge' and, glancing through last week's entries in my sketchbook, could barely believe I was on the bayside with 'scope, dogs 'n' sketchbook - getting a tan! Memories of a rapidly-diminishing summer . . .
 

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Great work. I really like quickly drawn fieldwork, has a real edge, tends to capture movement so well. Love the gull and geese...Keep the posts coming Tim...
 
Great sketches Tim, and the sort of quality I aspire to. I am doing a lot more sketching (from life) than before and find I am improving all the time and I'm pretty good at bird shapes. However, the devil (as they say) is in the detail and I am not so good at putting the 'meat on the bones' (so to speak).
However, I spend 32 hours a week at work, so I can't do as much as I'd like, getting out twice a week at most, if I'm lucky. How often do you manage to get out sketching?

Btw, Tim, was it you featured in an edition of Birds Illustrated back in the 90's, as part of a bird race team?

Cheers
VB
 
Cheers VB - glad you like the work. If you are getting out drawing twice a week, you are probably doing more than me. I get out as often as I can, a lot of it is weather dependent, though - and what the kids are up to etc. Recently, much of my time has been spent working on 'finished' works for my gallery and doing illustration and design work (my 'proper-job').
With regard to your fieldwork, getting bird shapes right is, probably, the hardest part - so if you've cracked that, then the rest can come naturally. Don't, please, get hung-up on detail. A field sketch should (in my humble opinion) be about the bird alive, doing what it does. Of course, if you get chance to study specimens more closely (resting gulls and waders, perhaps) then once again, look for the larger shapes within the 'outline' shapes - neck structure, coverts etc (look at Eric Ennion's - The Living Birds Of . . ). But perhaps as important - post some sketches here on BirdForum - there are some very experienced and talented artists (amateur and professional!) who view the site, and I for one, look forward to seeing (and commenting on ) anyone's work.
Look forward to seeing some - very soon?

Also - yes my work was featured in BirdsIllustrated (1993 - I think) - I did the sponsored birdwatch and then went on to paint all the species I'd seen that day (113) and sold the work for the Spanish Steppes Appeal. It was exhausting but great fun. (I used to write and illustrate stuff for Birds Illustrated and Bird Watching when I was younger - very good publications.) Funny how you remember certain things, isn't it.

Anyway, cheers VB and lets see some drawings, eh? - Tim
 
Absolutely wonderful!! you havea g reat eye for detail as well as a great talent. I wouldnt have the patience to sit there in the open and sketch, mainly because im more of a camera person. It takes amazing talent to capture it so well in the field, well done.
 
psilo said:
Absolutely wonderful!! you havea g reat eye for detail as well as a great talent. I wouldnt have the patience to sit there in the open and sketch, mainly because im more of a camera person. It takes amazing talent to capture it so well in the field, well done.
Thanks for the encouragement, Psilo. It's funny you should think it takes great patience to sketch in the outdoors - I've seen your photography and I'm sure you must spend ages on fieldcraft to get the images you do! - they're wonderful!!!
 
Autumn came and went in 11 hours this year. The winds started before dawn - gaining momentum in a frightening howl. I walk with my hands stuffed deep into my pockets to prevent my arms being ripped off at the shoulders. By the time the wind subsided, my willows and sycamores were stripped of all foliage, standing starkly against the grey tones of sea and sky. Of course, after the winds have died, the fallout is apparent - warblers are everywhere, but they're tired.
The cat brought a male blackcap in - I was too late, he died in my hand with a trembling flutter. I drew him for reference.
The chiffchaff is from far away east, much paler and greyer than the ones I know from Yorkshire.
the willow warbler came a day later (as if by comparison with its close cousin).
 

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tizziec said:
Beautiful scetches. Mine look like my five year old drew them LOL (actually I DO usually steal her pencils to do it)
Hi Tizziec - maybe there's something 'Faustian' going on - your pact with the keeper of the pencils, or something.
Seriously, if your drawings look like they've been done by a 5 year old:
1) that may be a good thing! - my 5 year old produces images I love (as does yours, no doubt),
2) (assuming you wish they didn't look that way) when did you last 'learn' to draw? - If it's been a while - it'll take a while.
3) shouldn't steal - ask nicely!
Just keep doing it - there really is no other way.
!
 
timwootton said:
Autumn came and went in 11 hours this year. The winds started before dawn - gaining momentum in a frightening howl. I walk with my hands stuffed deep into my pockets to prevent my arms being ripped off at the shoulders. By the time the wind subsided, my willows and sycamores were stripped of all foliage, standing starkly against the grey tones of sea and sky. Of course, after the winds have died, the fallout is apparent - warblers are everywhere, but they're tired.
The cat brought a male blackcap in - I was too late, he died in my hand with a trembling flutter. I drew him for reference.
The chiffchaff is from far away east, much paler and greyer than the ones I know from Yorkshire.
the willow warbler came a day later (as if by comparison with its close cousin).



Stunning sketches, Tim - sounds like the weather's turned a bit up there - glad I didn't hang around!
 
The weather has been really poor the past several days, strong winds and very wet. A stranger appeared on the 8th following some particularly rough stuff from the NE. We don't get many brent geese in Orkney (about 3 records a year - I can hear you lot in Northumberland laughing!), so to see one is nice, paticularly on 'my patch' - ie the front beach. As with all these windblown travellers though, I have mixed feelings. I hope the bird doesn't hang around too long and forget where they're supposed to be - with their own kind. At least there's eel grass on the mud.

This is a studio sketch from 3 days' drawings.
 

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