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revivingKensArt (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter solitaryVSong
- Start date
phil baber
Clipped Wing
Ken,
Glad to be back viewing your "process."
As usual, I am very un-disappointed!
Which I can only confirm as a good thing...
B :t:
Wonderful stuff!
Glad to be back viewing your "process."
As usual, I am very un-disappointed!
Which I can only confirm as a good thing...
B :t:Wonderful stuff!
solitaryVSong
Well-known member
Thanks everyone. My ID challenges have continued this week. Last week it was separating out immature Snowy Egrets from immature Little Blue Herons. This week, during a shorebird workshop at Cape May, it was separating out peeps, Short-billed and Long-Billed Dowitchers and others. Workshop was led by Michael O'Brien, author of 'The Shorebird Guide'. It was a great trip though as you can see I was still left scratching my head about a number of species.
White-rumped Sandpipers and Sandwich Tern, juvenile Semi-palmated Sandpiper and Whimbrel with wings raised momentarily, Short-billed Dowitcher and Least Tern, Ruddy Turnstone with neck stretched out and juvenile Western Sandpiper, and finally some immature Piping Plovers. Many of these were new birds to me so there are a lot of scribbled notes meant to help with the ID.
White-rumped Sandpipers and Sandwich Tern, juvenile Semi-palmated Sandpiper and Whimbrel with wings raised momentarily, Short-billed Dowitcher and Least Tern, Ruddy Turnstone with neck stretched out and juvenile Western Sandpiper, and finally some immature Piping Plovers. Many of these were new birds to me so there are a lot of scribbled notes meant to help with the ID.
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solitaryVSong
Well-known member
And the last bunch. American Oystercatchers, Piping Plover and Long-billed Dowitcher facing away but with head turned around and buried in mantle, distant Marbled Godwit and Least Tern, immature Great Blue Heron drying wings. If I ever do painting of the heron I'll show the maroon/brown of juvenile. Followed by Common Tern and a mystery shorebird. I was absolutely convinced it was dowitcher but it never fed in water. Spent at least an hour feeding on land. My last ID was Hendersonii race of Short-billed Dowitcher but now I'm wondering about Long-billed again. In any case that accounts for all the note-taking there. Finally an odd looking Osprey with very small head. It looked like an immature but plumage was adult. And an attempt at a Royal Tern, just before it flew. An uncommon bird for me. And I still remember Alan's sketches of it with that massively heavy bill. They were in my mind as I sketched.
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timwootton
Well-known member
Excellent - whimbrel and turnstone are expertly captured and the plovers already look fit to paint.
solitaryVSong
Well-known member
Thanks all. I feel very lucky to be so close to Cape May Colleen, both for the birds and the occasional workship. I used to go to Point Reyes when I lived in CA, though I wasn't a birder. But I've since read about it as a good place to bird and also as having a bird observatory like Cape May. Maybe they also have courses. I think that they're 'realatively' close to you.
I was happy that no one seemed concerned that I sketched away as the instructor talked. I was also looking and listening though it may not have looked like it.
I was happy that no one seemed concerned that I sketched away as the instructor talked. I was also looking and listening though it may not have looked like it.
phil baber
Clipped Wing
Gonna have to come back to this Ken.
Superb work. But am gonna have to to a bit of "sober-study of salient features."
Never mix bird ID and art I keep telling myself...
Superb work. But am gonna have to to a bit of "sober-study of salient features."
Never mix bird ID and art I keep telling myself...
JTMB
Well-known member
A great group of sketches, Ken! I would love to see a Piping Plover - none out here and in trouble back there, as I understand. As to ID - shorebirds are not my forte; I need to make more effort to go see them (they're coming through our area right now). And, one thing that I think all serious birders struggle with is the feeling that every bird should be able to be ID'd. My primary instructor - Dr. Dennis Paulson, also the author of a shorebird ID guide and multiple other books on birds and dragonflies - drummed into our classes that not every bird can be identified, even with the best possible effort. There is a lot of individual variation within species as well - avian life isn't as simple as the illustration plates or photographs in field guides.
solitaryVSong
Well-known member
Superb work. But am gonna have to to a bit of "sober-study of salient features."
Never mix bird ID and art I keep telling myself...
I'm not sure at all about mixing the two either Phil. But I find when I'm sketching in the field that the sketching itself helps me to see the bird better and be surer of it's ID, especially with largely unfamiliar birds like shorebirds.
So this new watercolor is based on a photo of the unknown dowitcher and a Semi-palmated Plover. I'm still not sure of ID but am leaning toward Long-billed. That's more uncommon where I was but we saw a few of them. In any case though this is based on a photo it's also based on the hour of very hard looking that I spent on the bird. What a beauty it was with orange fringes on the scapulars and a few on coverts and tertials, a little more orange wash on the neck and chest and mainly white fringes on most of the coverts. That's what I tried to get here, along with the more simply beautiful Semi-palmated for scale.
Still may need a little touchup tomorrow. But not enough to ruin it I hope.
John, you're right about not being able to ID every bird. After I'd looked thoroughly at my O'Brien shorebird book I pulled out the Paulson.
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timwootton
Well-known member
Very nice - there's a tremble of activity in this piece that I can already see you interpreting in print - the seized activity of the dow's stride (l-b IMHO) reverberates with the plover's flickering lower mandible. Smart colour piece in its own right.
solitaryVSong
Well-known member
Thanks Tim. I think you're right about it being LBDO. It was only in this one photo, and not in RL as Colleen says, that I could tell it had a long thin bill. Most of the time it was hidden in grass. And who knows what this dowitcher was doing spending all his time in the grass rather than the water right next to it. One of the most noticeable things was the grayish head merging into salmon belly, just as O'Brien describes molting adult LBDO.
It seemed like something was lacking yesterday so I touched it up today. Any more will ruin it though so this is the end for this version. It always takes forever for a new linocut to insinuate itself into my mind. So we'll see if this ends up being the one.
It seemed like something was lacking yesterday so I touched it up today. Any more will ruin it though so this is the end for this version. It always takes forever for a new linocut to insinuate itself into my mind. So we'll see if this ends up being the one.
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solitaryVSong
Well-known member
As I got bored waiting for the hurricane to hit yesterday I flipped through some old photos and came across one that I'd used a year ago as the basis for a felt-tip drawing. I'm showing both the old felt tip and the new watercolor.
One of the things that bothered me back when I did it was that I let the bill be cut off by the plant, Blue Cohosh I think, that was in the photo. Now a year later I feel less limited by what the photo shows. So I put in the full bill, moved the plants around and used watercolor.
For some reason I keep coming back to watercolor. I guess I think that with enough practice watercolor will become a natural medium for me. This is done on sketch paper so really shouldn't be used for a developed watercolor. But I think I feel less inhibited this way. I guess like Colleen and her seascapes I consider watercolor a long term project.
One of the things that bothered me back when I did it was that I let the bill be cut off by the plant, Blue Cohosh I think, that was in the photo. Now a year later I feel less limited by what the photo shows. So I put in the full bill, moved the plants around and used watercolor.
For some reason I keep coming back to watercolor. I guess I think that with enough practice watercolor will become a natural medium for me. This is done on sketch paper so really shouldn't be used for a developed watercolor. But I think I feel less inhibited this way. I guess like Colleen and her seascapes I consider watercolor a long term project.
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phil baber
Clipped Wing
Ken,
On tertial pattern in your lovely piece I'd say LBD.
And I'd confirm also that that's a lovely Ovenbird. Rendered superbly well!:t:
On tertial pattern in your lovely piece I'd say LBD.
And I'd confirm also that that's a lovely Ovenbird. Rendered superbly well!:t:
solitaryVSong
Well-known member
Thanks Phil and Colleen. I'm continuing to switch media here. This time a Caran d'Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayon sketch of a Wild Turkey and Double-crested Cormorant.
I saw this odd scene at Metzger Marsh in Ohio last May. I did many sketches and took many photos of the 'wild' turkey. But I never noticed the cormorant in the canal until I got home and looked at the photos. So this is based on a number of photos taken at the time. The juxtaposition is an itch that I've been meaning to scratch for some time. Not sure whether I'll eventually develop it into something else.
I saw this odd scene at Metzger Marsh in Ohio last May. I did many sketches and took many photos of the 'wild' turkey. But I never noticed the cormorant in the canal until I got home and looked at the photos. So this is based on a number of photos taken at the time. The juxtaposition is an itch that I've been meaning to scratch for some time. Not sure whether I'll eventually develop it into something else.
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Strandman
Well-known member
that's a cracker of geometry content and colour
impressive too that the name of the pencil is longer than the name of the birds
timwootton
Well-known member
Really like this one, Ken and I must have missed the ovenbird - both the pen and watercolour renderings are excellent. Right up my street.
