It was a very busy Sunday, what with photo wanderings, restaurant sketching and life drawing -- I may have to pull back on some sketch time to recharge. Or maybe that's just the next-day soreness talking.
I saw this morning in the SF online papers word of mysterious bird deaths in your city, and instantly thought "wait, Lori is there"...and here I come to see your lovely bird sketch. May all be well with you--and your feathered friends too. The cat on my monitor this morning would not agree; he is longing to lunge through the window and have a blackbird for breakfast.
Lori, great stuff here. I'm glad that you can draw from this experience. Students never believed me when I would tell them how physically intense drawing could be. The standing thing is tough. I made a portable drawing horse for myself and always stopped and did frequent stretching . The costumed stuff looks great. You have a good hand and a good eye.
Jarvenpa: We're still not certain what happened to those birds -- while grackles are considered pests here (and can clump in frighteningly dense bunches, making certain favorite trees more bird than tree) I really like them. Spunky, iridescent -- the gal grackle I sketched here seemed very young, she was sleek and a bit leggy. And re: cats, my last crop of housecats used to freak out when I watched nature shows that featured snakes.
Ed: Thanks, as ever, wish I could quit aching -- and thanks for the pile of silly funny jokes too! It's interesting how coming back to drawing after all this time is the same, yet different. I also had a momentary sense of all of us as prisms around the model that may hatch into a poem later...
MB: She was more fleet than my hand and eye for sure -- but gave me just enough of a look for me to attempt to hack her basic shape and demeanor. It's interesting what essence sticks after the subject flits off...and double-yech about Audubon, but seems like that was not an uncommon approach for naturalists at that time. "Let's kill it and see what it is!" Yick yech bleah.
Dave: I'm with ya. I love the subtle olive-green iridescence of the girl grackles, and of course the purple-midnight glory (and the wild yellow eye) of the dandy-esque boy grackles. The bats are just, well, dull by comparison.
Pedro: Oh, but I must! However, today I could not -- too much work, too tired. Tomorrow will be better I'm sure. And I would love to hear more about your attempt to get life drawing sessions in Lisbon!
MjM: Well, she held still just long enough to get a sense of her shape, and then she came back enough for me to try and sketch more. But I think this sketch is more the idea of a grackle than the observed grackle.
7 comments:
I saw this morning in the SF online papers word of mysterious bird deaths in your city, and instantly thought "wait, Lori is there"...and here I come to see your lovely bird sketch.
May all be well with you--and your feathered friends too. The cat on my monitor this morning would not agree; he is longing to lunge through the window and have a blackbird for breakfast.
Lori, great stuff here. I'm glad that you can draw from this experience. Students never believed me when I would tell them how physically intense drawing could be. The standing thing is tough. I made a portable drawing horse for myself and always stopped and did frequent stretching . The costumed stuff looks great. You have a good hand and a good eye.
The flitting bird must have been a challenge! (I've heard that Audubon pinned his. Yech.)
I have fond memories of Austin grackles. They're way cooler than the bats, if you ask me.
After all, you don't need to practice ...
Holy crap! Not only can you draw, but you're fast! You DREW a snapshot of a bird. Wow...
Hi everybody, sore ol' tired me here...owowowch.
;-)
Jarvenpa: We're still not certain what happened to those birds -- while grackles are considered pests here (and can clump in frighteningly dense bunches, making certain favorite trees more bird than tree) I really like them. Spunky, iridescent -- the gal grackle I sketched here seemed very young, she was sleek and a bit leggy. And re: cats, my last crop of housecats used to freak out when I watched nature shows that featured snakes.
Ed: Thanks, as ever, wish I could quit aching -- and thanks for the pile of silly funny jokes too! It's interesting how coming back to drawing after all this time is the same, yet different. I also had a momentary sense of all of us as prisms around the model that may hatch into a poem later...
MB: She was more fleet than my hand and eye for sure -- but gave me just enough of a look for me to attempt to hack her basic shape and demeanor. It's interesting what essence sticks after the subject flits off...and double-yech about Audubon, but seems like that was not an uncommon approach for naturalists at that time. "Let's kill it and see what it is!" Yick yech bleah.
Dave: I'm with ya. I love the subtle olive-green iridescence of the girl grackles, and of course the purple-midnight glory (and the wild yellow eye) of the dandy-esque boy grackles. The bats are just, well, dull by comparison.
Pedro: Oh, but I must! However, today I could not -- too much work, too tired. Tomorrow will be better I'm sure. And I would love to hear more about your attempt to get life drawing sessions in Lisbon!
MjM: Well, she held still just long enough to get a sense of her shape, and then she came back enough for me to try and sketch more. But I think this sketch is more the idea of a grackle than the observed grackle.
Now, off in quest of sleep...
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