Mike's conservatory (6 Viewers)

[nickderry]

this is work from an even higher drawer - get a stool to stand on! There's such a lightness in the watercolour there.

 

[buzzard12]

More brilliant fieldwork Mike, cant wait to see the Hobby developed if you do indeed go down that road...

 

[Woody]

Well at least I had a good day at the zoo yesterday...

And I caught up with an old friend and put my face about a little bit, so not a wasted day.

Just for interest, they will be running the comp again next year, launching in November this year.

Otters Tim! Where! When! How! Who? What? Tell please...

Oh, and here's an arbitrary, but very cute, shot of a yellow mongoose pup from Marwell.

Mike

 

[timwootton]

Are you allowed to say who/what won, Mike?

 

[Woody]

Are you allowed to say who/what won, Mike?

I haven't got a clue! It was all behind closed doors, the only thing that will disappoint me is if it's the same old names we always see.

Mike

 

[Rahul Parekh]

beautiful work you are doing...love it. Keep going |=)|

All best wishes,

Cheers, Rahul

 

[Woody]

Popped out to Elmley on Wednesday as I took a day off work to see Beth on stage in the evening. The weather was a bit of a disappointment being a bit overcast and not as warm as of late. The whole place seemed quiet and a bit sleepy so I ended up sketching the black headed gulls as they paddled about feeding. A marsh harrier drifted by and I had time to scribble down some flight sketches. On my way home I saw a colour ringed blackwit but didn't have time to hang about until it showed me its other leg so I only have half the info needed to make it worthwhile reporting. Loads of butterflies and dragonflies still about and the lil owls were still in their tree. It was a quiet day but it beats being at work anytime!

And Beth was great in her play too! (Even though it was based on a Jacqueline Wilson book!)

Mike

 

[Andrew H]

Love the BHG's best......But great sketches yet again

 

[timwootton]

Yes - very lovely work Mike. Some super shapes in the gulls and the flight scribbles read perfectly. I'm not sure you need any more info regarding the blackwit - the colour rings would be together as you've drawn so I'd be putting a report in if it were me (or do you actually know there was other 'information' on the other leg?).
Glad to hear Beth's progressing and impressing - even if it in a Jacqueline Wilson thingy (who she, anyway?).

 

[Woody]

Well, I guess it won't do any harm to report it anyway, it's just that the schemes all seem to use rings and flags on both legs.

Jacqueline Wilson is responsible for the awful 'Tracey Beaker'. She writes in a very stacatto way and she's a bit of a man hater with a feminist chip on her shoulder. That said, young teenage girls like her books so she must be doing something right, she's just not my cup of tea.

Next challenge for Beth is an audition for a local production of 'Hairspray', then LAMDA exams, then a talent show, then pantomime... etc., etc.!

Mike

 

[nickderry]

superb shapes on the gulls - and the blackwit, and I can totally empathise with the horror that is Tracey Beaker - my ex-flatmate's 5 pre-teen daughters used to watch it non-stop when they came to visit at weekends, curse those channels that show kids' programmes round the clock. Even great actresses have to start somewhere, and I'm sure she was great.

Have you heard anything from the BBC comp yet?

 

[Woody]

Have you heard anything from the BBC comp yet?

I didn't win the category so I won't be going to Brasil :-C

No surprise to me and I had a great day at the zoo!

Mike

 

[nickderry]

that's none of us going to Brazil then, my little brother's just come back from 7 weeks there as part of his uni sport science course - he's not even remotely interested in birding yet managed to become vaguely interested enough to come back with a list of things I'll probably not see! Not that I'm jealous in any way of course! ;-)

 

[jomo]

Really excellent gull sketches, Mike, and amazing how a few little marks can suggest so much!

 

[colleenc]

beautiful gull sketches, so much volume in them..

 

[ARTHUR BISHOP]

Lovely sketches Mike

 

[solitaryVSong]

Great sketches! I love the gulls but those few lines that make up the harriers are pretty impressive too. Makes you see the wonder of sketching from life.

 

[deborah4]

superb shapes on the gulls - and the blackwit,

I'll just second wat 'e' said ... I'm running out of superlatives on this forum!! Good stuff Mike. ('Good'? ... no GREAT!)

 

[Woody]

A mixed bag from Elmley on Sunday. The avocets are calming down now that their chicks are grown on and blackwits, still in breeding finery are allowed to share the scrapes. Plenty of redshank about with three of four chicks pottering around prompting shouting from the parents and one spotshank was feeding on the far shore. Anyway a couple of godwits went in the book and the mixed bag of avos blackwits and redshank.

Afternoon spent working on a hobby study, much along the same lines as the kestrel study I did previously, so slowly, slowly.

Mike

 

[nickderry]

I predict an excellent painting!