timwootton
Well-known member
Great work Mike - love the swallow map enormously. Speak later.
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Mike's conservatory (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Woody
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ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
Superb pic's Mike, just enjoying this lovely weather up here before august.
Woody
Well-known member
The sun shone this weekend as it did in those distant days of long summer holidays when I would explore the chalk downlands behind my home. The thistledown flitted across the fields like a fall of faery snow and the long, dry, grass undulated in gold and silver waves as the breeze soughed through. The bees buzzed and the grasshoppers churred, a busy accompaniment that seemed to make the day feel more lazy. The atmosphere brought back memories of 'dens' made among the bushes, catching lizards and slow-worms, and lying on my back watching hunting kestrels overhead. Happy days indeed.
On the scrapes almost everything slept with the exception of three common sandpipers that dashed here and there feeding for all they were worth. A wood sandpiper put in an appearance searching the edges of the water which continues to recede. The little ringed plover is still there alongside his slightly larger cousins. A couple of ruffs pretended to be redshanks and a large group of black headed gulls gleamed silver white in the heat. A kestrel preened quietly before launching back across the reserve to hunt for small furry creatures on the fresh cut fields.
I'm off to Norfolk in a couple of weeks, I can only hope that the weather repeats this weekend's performance.
Mike
On the scrapes almost everything slept with the exception of three common sandpipers that dashed here and there feeding for all they were worth. A wood sandpiper put in an appearance searching the edges of the water which continues to recede. The little ringed plover is still there alongside his slightly larger cousins. A couple of ruffs pretended to be redshanks and a large group of black headed gulls gleamed silver white in the heat. A kestrel preened quietly before launching back across the reserve to hunt for small furry creatures on the fresh cut fields.
I'm off to Norfolk in a couple of weeks, I can only hope that the weather repeats this weekend's performance.
Mike
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Andrew Ellis
Well-known member
Hi Mike , well I loved what the splodge turned into, the plover sketches are great and
this last account was just poetry mate . The Kestrel sketch is exquisite. I hope Norfolk
is rewarding for you and will check in real soon I promise!!
this last account was just poetry mate . The Kestrel sketch is exquisite. I hope Norfolk
is rewarding for you and will check in real soon I promise!!
ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
Lovely sketch Mike , muggy up here at the mo.
Woody
Well-known member
I've had a whole week of getting a later coach to work. No particular reason, I guess I just fancied some lie-ins. But I can't lie-in for more than about half hour so I've ended up with some morning time to myself. Mostly I've spent it in the conservatory with a leisurely coffee as fortification against the day but this morning I decided I'd sketch some spuggies in the garden. I came home tonight and thought they could do with painting over so here they are. Just little sketches but quite fun to do.
Mike
Mike
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timwootton
Well-known member
Well worth the time invested, Mike. Super little sheet with a couple of portraits well worth working up. Lovely work!
birdpotter
Well-known member
Mike, your studies are superb.
I fear I have nothing more to say right now, I think the drink is working well on me tonight...off to Tim's bar!
I fear I have nothing more to say right now, I think the drink is working well on me tonight...off to Tim's bar!
timwootton
Well-known member
Beautiful sprawk portrait - bags of life and every mark a meaningful one.
Woody
Well-known member
What an awful morning Sunday turned out to be! No birds, bar the occasional passing pigeon, bhg, and swallow. Lots of drizzly rain showers, wind, the ground strewn with rubbish and the field full of people. Luckily that was at a boot fair I had to do to shift years of accumulated junk from our loft, not out at Elmley!
Saturday was different story entirely, the sun was still just about able to show her face through scattered clouds which raced across the marsh harrassed by the wind, and the rain restricted itself to spitting a few drops rudely in my face. In the toilet block the final family of swallows are growing well, attended by their parents every few seconds it seems. A quick look at the nest showed five or six yellow lipped faces peering down at me like an appreciative audience in a box at the theatre. Good luck little chaps, I don't suppose you'll still be there by next week.
The reserve is quiet but a bit of careful searching with the bins revealed three snipe feeding in one of the pools alongside two ruff, lapwings, and a redshank or three. Coots and moorhens still seem to have little trains of youngsters trailing them although most of the ducklings are now too grown up for such childish pursuit. The pheasant family are still in the area by the path but the young are now wary of passing people, just as they should be. A large flock of starlings were put up by something, I couldn't find the source of panic but it won't be long now 'till the hobbies are replaced by the winter merlins.
When I arrived at the Wellmarsh hide I found it occupied by someone who turned out to be fellow BF'er AndyT. We chatted for a while about this and that, which made a nice change, what a nice chap. It's lovely to meet members of this little community, (Even if I am insanely jealous of his close encounter with Elmley's peregrines!).
There are godwit on the scrapes and a few avocet remain, mostly youngsters with their black markings bordered in soft umber. Three or four common sandpipers flitted between the islands busily feeding and a smattering of ringed plovers and lapwings pottered about. I watched a falcon come in low and fast and was surprised when it perched up and I identified it as a male kestrel. He sat for a while and I sketched happily, taking in the atmosphere of the surroundings. On my last scan of the scrape I spotted movement which, on closer inspection, resolved itself into a little stint, a fab little spot to end a pretty good morning. The rest of the day I spent in the loft sorting through cr*p for Sunday's accursed boot fair, why do we feel the need to keep so much 'stuff'!?
After a hideous morning selling the 'stuff' to the great unwashed, (Nice little profit and an empty loft/garage!), I needed to paint. A sketch from a couple of weeks ago called to me so here is the result.
Mike
Saturday was different story entirely, the sun was still just about able to show her face through scattered clouds which raced across the marsh harrassed by the wind, and the rain restricted itself to spitting a few drops rudely in my face. In the toilet block the final family of swallows are growing well, attended by their parents every few seconds it seems. A quick look at the nest showed five or six yellow lipped faces peering down at me like an appreciative audience in a box at the theatre. Good luck little chaps, I don't suppose you'll still be there by next week.
The reserve is quiet but a bit of careful searching with the bins revealed three snipe feeding in one of the pools alongside two ruff, lapwings, and a redshank or three. Coots and moorhens still seem to have little trains of youngsters trailing them although most of the ducklings are now too grown up for such childish pursuit. The pheasant family are still in the area by the path but the young are now wary of passing people, just as they should be. A large flock of starlings were put up by something, I couldn't find the source of panic but it won't be long now 'till the hobbies are replaced by the winter merlins.
When I arrived at the Wellmarsh hide I found it occupied by someone who turned out to be fellow BF'er AndyT. We chatted for a while about this and that, which made a nice change, what a nice chap. It's lovely to meet members of this little community, (Even if I am insanely jealous of his close encounter with Elmley's peregrines!).
There are godwit on the scrapes and a few avocet remain, mostly youngsters with their black markings bordered in soft umber. Three or four common sandpipers flitted between the islands busily feeding and a smattering of ringed plovers and lapwings pottered about. I watched a falcon come in low and fast and was surprised when it perched up and I identified it as a male kestrel. He sat for a while and I sketched happily, taking in the atmosphere of the surroundings. On my last scan of the scrape I spotted movement which, on closer inspection, resolved itself into a little stint, a fab little spot to end a pretty good morning. The rest of the day I spent in the loft sorting through cr*p for Sunday's accursed boot fair, why do we feel the need to keep so much 'stuff'!?
After a hideous morning selling the 'stuff' to the great unwashed, (Nice little profit and an empty loft/garage!), I needed to paint. A sketch from a couple of weeks ago called to me so here is the result.
Mike
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timwootton
Well-known member
Your field drawing is taking a slightly different direction, I think. Where you used to be content to get the bird, catch its character, you now seem to be making certain you're getting the whole flavour of the scene - catching moments in time. This, of course, is what drawing from nature ought to be (something I've yet to come anywhere near mastering) - and ideas for paintings must be springing up off every page of your sketchbooks on a pretty regular basis. Terrific.
Well done about the Car-boot, too. Great fun. - up here they're always held in parish halls (cos the rain would hose everything down and the wind would shift it to a neighbouring county - Shetland, usually).
Well done about the Car-boot, too. Great fun. - up here they're always held in parish halls (cos the rain would hose everything down and the wind would shift it to a neighbouring county - Shetland, usually).
Woody
Well-known member
Thanks chaps.
You're right Tim, I'm trying to think more about painting the birds in situ, as seen, highlighting and interpreting the experience of the 'outdoors' with a bit of creative element juggling. Unfortunately a lot of Elmley is rather unattractive mud! The landscapes can be a bit sparse too but it does have its own special beauty.
The snipe by the post, the kestrel sketch, the barn owl in the sunrise, and last year's windy, wet barn owl are all the type of thing I'm working towards, birds in their landscapes as part of the landscape but pretty much the focal point. These recent pics are fairly small scale but eventually I'm hoping to work larger, creating spaces for the birds to inhabit and paintings of 'whole' environments. That's the idea anyway but I'll probably never get there; I'm too fascinated by the little details! I've too many ideas and not enough skill/talent/time/drive to see any one of them through properly! (And, by the way, I wish I hadn't mastered the drawing from nature thing as well as you obviously haven't, if you see what I mean?!)
Mike
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