-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Mike's conservatory (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Woody
- Start date
Woody
Well-known member
A pretty good trip today, the weather wasn't too unkind and there seems to be a promise in the air. Spotted a peregrine on the way in and a female hen harrier put in a brief back view as she flew directly away, I wonder if hen harriers actually have heads? My field observation seems to suggest that they only have tails and wings and these only ever point away from the observer...
The tide was out and the scrape was quiet apart from three of four ringed plover chasing about as if spring had sprung. There were plenty of sleeping ducks; Wigeon, teal, shoveller and mallard and, for a short while, a lone avocet popped in. During the summer these scrapes will be heaving with avocet so this one was nice to see as a forerunner of things to come and a sign of spring. Way off over the far side a group of snipe were snoozing and I couldn't resist despite the distance.
Mike
The tide was out and the scrape was quiet apart from three of four ringed plover chasing about as if spring had sprung. There were plenty of sleeping ducks; Wigeon, teal, shoveller and mallard and, for a short while, a lone avocet popped in. During the summer these scrapes will be heaving with avocet so this one was nice to see as a forerunner of things to come and a sign of spring. Way off over the far side a group of snipe were snoozing and I couldn't resist despite the distance.
Mike
Attachments
timwootton
Well-known member
Good stuff, Mike - nice, rounded interview and a full-frontal!!!
Woody
Well-known member
"Lots of things I don't know, I don't really know how you guys go about starting you paintings after your sketches."
Greg posted this so I thought I'd post a bit of a work in progress as a reply.
I don't know about others but when I'm between paintings I tend to get tetchy so it's always a good idea for me to be painting something! If all else fails I'll resort to a study like the barn owl on a stick here, nothing groundbreaking I know but it keeps me amused. Incidently, one thing that does bother me about painting studies like this barnie is that people tend to assume that the reference photo comes from the local falconry centre. I'm sure that many paintings do but, ironically, this one is a genuine wild barnie from my Norfolk hols last year, it just happens to be sitting on a post that could easily have been a block perch. But I digress.
Once I've got something underway I start thinking about the next project and for inspiration I almost invariably turn to my sketchbooks. Even if the sketches don't get used verbatim they still provide that little jog that I need to get a bit of creative juice flowing. I came across a page of Gsw's and instantly wanted to do a woody painting. Unlike with the study, I was desperate to avoid the upright rectangle with a trunk vertically through the middle and pecker clinging to the side, so I began fiddling with thumbnails and whittled 'em down to two which I drew up a bit further. I decided that I liked the oak one better and scanned it in. I then used photoshop to enlarge the drawing and I printed it in sections which I joined so that I'd have the drawing at the final size. I also scanned my sketch and ran it out seperately to the finished size. The sketch has been refined using various reference books to make sure it was right. (I realise that the toes have rather run away with themselves and they will be reined in!). The next stage is a quick trace of the main elements of the enlarged drawing and a transfer to the painting surface, in this case my favourite illustration board. I'll post further progress as I go along but first I'm off to continue with the barnie on a stick.
Mike
Greg posted this so I thought I'd post a bit of a work in progress as a reply.
I don't know about others but when I'm between paintings I tend to get tetchy so it's always a good idea for me to be painting something! If all else fails I'll resort to a study like the barn owl on a stick here, nothing groundbreaking I know but it keeps me amused. Incidently, one thing that does bother me about painting studies like this barnie is that people tend to assume that the reference photo comes from the local falconry centre. I'm sure that many paintings do but, ironically, this one is a genuine wild barnie from my Norfolk hols last year, it just happens to be sitting on a post that could easily have been a block perch. But I digress.
Once I've got something underway I start thinking about the next project and for inspiration I almost invariably turn to my sketchbooks. Even if the sketches don't get used verbatim they still provide that little jog that I need to get a bit of creative juice flowing. I came across a page of Gsw's and instantly wanted to do a woody painting. Unlike with the study, I was desperate to avoid the upright rectangle with a trunk vertically through the middle and pecker clinging to the side, so I began fiddling with thumbnails and whittled 'em down to two which I drew up a bit further. I decided that I liked the oak one better and scanned it in. I then used photoshop to enlarge the drawing and I printed it in sections which I joined so that I'd have the drawing at the final size. I also scanned my sketch and ran it out seperately to the finished size. The sketch has been refined using various reference books to make sure it was right. (I realise that the toes have rather run away with themselves and they will be reined in!). The next stage is a quick trace of the main elements of the enlarged drawing and a transfer to the painting surface, in this case my favourite illustration board. I'll post further progress as I go along but first I'm off to continue with the barnie on a stick.
Mike
Attachments
mark richards
Well-known member
thats very nice mike.....mark.
timwootton
Well-known member
I must be getting dementia - I've commented on all these several times (but obviously forgotten to type).
Love the wl on a stick - Nick is spot on, of course. Nothing wrong with revisiting a theme, especially if it's done as well as this. And - very, very nice drawings for the pecker comp - really looking forward to seeing this one develop (although, these prelims could very easily be framed and hug).
Love the wl on a stick - Nick is spot on, of course. Nothing wrong with revisiting a theme, especially if it's done as well as this. And - very, very nice drawings for the pecker comp - really looking forward to seeing this one develop (although, these prelims could very easily be framed and hug).
Woody
Well-known member
Just thought I'd post some sketches from last Sunday and a couple from Monday. The avocets are back! There is display and mating going on and a group of 10-15 birds were snoozing, holding back their energy for the rigours to come. A pair of snipe were playing hide and seek, in and out of the sedges and grass, visible then invisible, I love these birds and hope to get a load more reference this spring/summer if they breed close enough to the roadside.
I spent a lunch hour (or two) in Kensington gardens especially to see the owls and owlets there. They are quite the celebrities and posed beautifully whilst people came and went, some with binoculars, some with cameras, some without but all with open mouthed expressions of wonder at the presence of such visible owls in central London. A young spaniel spotted one of them in the branches high above him and he ran around the base of the tree like a mad thing whilst the owlet looked down with an expression that seemed to say; "You can run around all you like mate, I'm not coming down to play, I'm staying right where I am!" I had an absolute ball, despite the cold, and the only drawback was the limited time I had before work drew me back into its miserable clutches.
I think I might paint some baby owls once the woody is finished.
Mike
I spent a lunch hour (or two) in Kensington gardens especially to see the owls and owlets there. They are quite the celebrities and posed beautifully whilst people came and went, some with binoculars, some with cameras, some without but all with open mouthed expressions of wonder at the presence of such visible owls in central London. A young spaniel spotted one of them in the branches high above him and he ran around the base of the tree like a mad thing whilst the owlet looked down with an expression that seemed to say; "You can run around all you like mate, I'm not coming down to play, I'm staying right where I am!" I had an absolute ball, despite the cold, and the only drawback was the limited time I had before work drew me back into its miserable clutches.
I think I might paint some baby owls once the woody is finished.
Mike
Attachments
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
I can see some very nice paintings to come from the owlets - fantastic to have them so available like that. Snipe gorgeous - you can never tire of them, ever! The avocets have a lovely rhythm moving through their patterns, even on the resting birds.
Strandman
Well-known member
I really like that last T Owl sketch- contrast between the round forms around the owl and the straight crossing branches.
For admirers of the form and pattern of Avocets, here's a rather nice link I was sent recently:
http://wrightswanderings.blogspot.com/2008/12/franks-avocets.html
For admirers of the form and pattern of Avocets, here's a rather nice link I was sent recently:
http://wrightswanderings.blogspot.com/2008/12/franks-avocets.html
