Birders' Nest

[Elgarian Redux]

Glad you decided to revisit them, these are charming! And your experimentation is apparent even to my non-expert eye, each one seeming distinctly stylistically different. I think the Dartford Warbler tops the pile for me, though they all appeal.
I must say I was most impressed by the sound of your diligence and dedication back then, which seem both admirable and touching. I would have been so pleased to have ever been able to draw like this.

Thanks for all these kind words. I think the Dartford warbler is the best, too, but I should say that scraperboard is a very beguiling medium when it comes to expressing feathers and fur. It's a lot easier than it looks to get that feathery fluffy appearance, when you scratch with a fine point into a black surface with white underneath. See this water vole for instance - the beguiling furry fluff hides all sorts of anatomical vagueness on my part!

[Iota]

Thanks for all these kind words. I think the Dartford warbler is the best, too, but I should say that scraperboard is a very beguiling medium when it comes to expressing feathers and fur. It's a lot easier than it looks to get that feathery fluffy appearance, when you scratch with a fine point into a black surface with white underneath. See this water vole for instance - the beguiling furry fluff hides all sorts of anatomical vagueness on my part!

Well I take your word for it, but both this and the Dartford Warbler seem very alive with some kind of energy, they really leap out at you. I like them very much.

[Elgarian Redux]

Well I take your word for it, but both this and the Dartford Warbler seem very alive with some kind of energy, they really leap out at you. I like them very much.

All I can say is thank you. That's a wonderful outcome, about 50 years after the event!

Actually, my elder daughter is mad keen on animals, and when she saw these images some months ago, she asked if she could have the originals (which were stashed away in a folder). So most of them are framed and hanging on the walls of her house now. Which is kind of nice to know.

[owlice]

Glad you decided to revisit them, these are charming! And your experimentation is apparent even to my non-expert eye, each one seeming distinctly stylistically different. I think the Dartford Warbler tops the pile for me, though they all appeal.
I must say I was most impressed by the sound of your diligence and dedication back then, which seem both admirable and touching. I would have been so pleased to have ever been able to draw like this.

Once again, I can only second what Iota has already very elegantly expressed. So ^that, all of it, again.

[owlice]

Well I take your word for it, but both this and the Dartford Warbler seem very alive with some kind of energy, they really leap out at you. I like them very much.

Plus encore!

[owlice]

Haha, I didn't even want to 'embiggen' that one. 

And there's such a kind of slapstick, comedic look to that face up close too. I really do see birds in so many new ways in your photos, owlice!

Yes indeed! I feel like reaching into that photo and plucking that feather out! Pretty impressive set of 'teeth' there too!

Hey, did you steal him from our garden?!

But he does look friendly. "Really? You want to photograph me?"

It is a curiously disturbing photo!

Majestic. Some really nice ripples and reflections too.

Thank you both!

The sun returned today so we were up on the hills. No grice (we were on the other side of the valley this time), but we were accompanied as we walked by stonechats, reed buntings, and a couple of goldfinches. They all know just how far away they need to be to keep my camera stretched slightly further than it can go, so the photos are not great I'm afraid. Nice to see the stonechats though (they haven't been around for a while).

The photos are perfect: wonderful mementos of a sunny day's walk in the hills and the pleasure of seeing a familiar that hasn't been around. And what a glorious view!!

Elgarian, your drawings are lovely! You saw and rendered these creatures so well, keeping the life in them while showing them off! In my limited experience, Dartford Warblers are flighty little birds, and it is hard to even get a shot of one unless they are in a very cooperative mood, and it seemed to me they are almost never in a very cooperative mood! (And they are so cute, one wants to visit with them for a bit!) One sat still for me once for a brief second or two.

Dartford Warbler

And then flew off laughing... or maybe the laughter was mine, at finally having a keepsake of it.

But the keepsake your daughter has is much the greater, as it was by your hand and heart and now she is reminded daily of your talent and exquisite rendering of a flighty little beauty.

[owlice]

Though my travel this time is not for wildlifeing, still I see some things that qualify, such as a shiny Eurasian Magpie...


...a Common Goldeneye...


... an Eastern Gray Squirrel...


...and, barely, a Great Tit.


I was entertained by some Common Wood-Pigeons, too, diving for berries:

[Elgarian Redux]

In my limited experience, Dartford Warblers are flighty little birds, and it is hard to even get a shot of one unless they are in a very cooperative mood, and it seemed to me they are almost never in a very cooperative mood! (And they are so cute, one wants to visit with them for a bit!) One sat still for me once for a brief second or two.

Dartford Warbler

And then flew off laughing... or maybe the laughter was mine, at finally having a keepsake of it.

But the keepsake your daughter has is much the greater, as it was by your hand and heart and now she is reminded daily of your talent and exquisite rendering of a flighty little beauty.

Confession time: I have never seen a real live Dartford Warbler; only photos, including the one I used for the basis of that drawing. It's lovely to see your photo, therefore, reminding me that  they are such unmistakably lovely birds.

[Elgarian Redux]

Though my travel this time is not for wildlifeing, still I see some things that qualify, such as a shiny Eurasian Magpie...

Magpies, magpies, come back to my garden! I want to photograph you.

...a Common Goldeneye...

Common maybe, but still beautiful.

... an Eastern Gray Squirrel...

Whatever it is he's holding, he's not going to let it go without a fight.

...and, barely, a Great Tit.

"And that is where the Great Tit is.
That is where the Great Tit is.
That is where the Great Tit is.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah."

I was entertained by some Common Wood-Pigeons, too, diving for berries:

But do they know the difference between up and down?

[Elgarian Redux]

No bird photography today, but I ransacked again my old drawings folders. Plants are a lot easier to draw than birds. They sit still, don't you know? So I drew quite a few plants, back in the late 70s, trying to capture the rhythms and curvatures of the leaves. I was also besotted for a time by the velvet interiors of pansies, peering into the hearts of them and trying to get some equivalent marks that suggested their mysteriousness. I came to the conclusion that the texture of the petals of a pansy is inimitable - by me, anyway.

Below are (1) a shoot of flowering cherry; (2) some geranium leaves; (3) an apple; (4) &(5) pansies.

[Iota]

Dartford Warbler

I suppose one could say this about many small birds, but I have never felt such a strong and immediate desire to cup a bird in the palm of my hand as I did when seeing this photo. Impossibly cute! For some reason its curvy outline recalls a Russian doll to my mind, but I am exceedingly tired and that's probably a very tenuous conflation.
Anyway this is only yet one more absorbing photo in your seemingly inexhaustible supply of them. It really is a remarkable and enriching thing to behold. 

No bird photography today, but I ransacked again my old drawings folders. Plants are a lot easier to draw than birds. They sit still, don't you know? So I drew quite a few plants, back in the late 70s, trying to capture the rhythms and curvatures of the leaves. I was also besotted for a time by the velvet interiors of pansies, peering into the hearts of them and trying to get some equivalent marks that suggested their mysteriousness. I came to the conclusion that the texture of the petals of a pansy is inimitable - by me, anyway.

Below are (1) a shoot of flowering cherry; (2) some geranium leaves; (3) an apple; (4) &(5) pansies.

And from one talent to another .. bravo, Elgarian! These are great, lovely to see you working in colour too! The green leaves in particular I find kind of magical, and I love the apple!
I always loved pansies too and still do, I know they're a bit obvious, but they can still stop me in my tracks and quasi-hypnotise me when walking past them in the street sometimes.

And it was great to hear as owlice said, that your animal pictures are now framed and hanging in your daughter's house, I can't imagine a more natural and happy destination.

[Kalevala]

Something to make everyone smile:  Peawee and Susan

K

[Elgarian Redux]

I always loved pansies too and still do, I know they're a bit obvious, but they can still stop me in my tracks and quasi-hypnotise me when walking past them in the street sometimes.

At the time I was doing those flower drawings we had a garden full of pansies, but once I started trying to draw them I lost all sense of their common-ness. I got quite hooked on it: peering into the heart of the flower trying to fathom the mystery. It's possible just to look closely of course, but there's something about the drawing process itself which adds a dimension to the looking. You have to look and think 'how do I represent this subtle nuance of shade and colour?' - which one wouldn't do - or might not do - while merely looking. So I found, anyway.

[Elgarian Redux]

Something to make everyone smile:  Peawee and Susan

K

Extraordinary story. One can hardly believe one's own eyes, seeing this.

[owlice]

For some reason its curvy outline recalls a Russian doll to my mind, but I am exceedingly tired and that's probably a very tenuous conflation.

It is not tenuous at all; it does indeed have the very shape of a nesting Russian doll, and now that you've mentioned it, I will always see it that way and imagine nesting Dartford Warbler dolls!

Anyway this is only yet one more absorbing photo in your seemingly inexhaustible supply of them. It really is a remarkable and enriching thing to behold.

Thank you. It's not an inexhaustible supply, but I do seem to have a lot of bird/wildlife pics. An undergrad who'd come along on a birding walk commented to me how much like Pokémon birding is: gotta catch them all! 

And from one talent to another .. bravo, Elgarian! These are great, lovely to see you working in colour too! The green leaves in particular I find kind of magical, and I love the apple!  I always loved pansies too and still do, I know they're a bit obvious, but they can still stop me in my tracks and quasi-hypnotise me when walking past them in the street sometimes.

And it was great to hear as owlice said, that your animal pictures are now framed and hanging in your daughter's house, I can't imagine a more natural and happy destination.

Elgarian, what he^ said! And

"And that is where the Great Tit is.
That is where the Great Tit is.
That is where the Great Tit is.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah."

made me laugh! Thanks!!

Kalevala, hurrah for Susan and the peafowl she raised!

~~~~

Heading westward today. I leave you with a few birbs and a mystery:


European Robin


Grey Heron


Egyptian Goose

~~~
Where's the bird? And what kind is it?

[owlice]

Oh, here are a few more birds because I have them sitting in tabs and have way too many tabs open!



Olivaceous Piculet, a member of the woodpecker family (Costa Rica)
Such a big name for such a little bird!


Long-billed Dowitcher (New Jersey)


Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (Costa Rica)


Montezuma Oropendola (Costa Rica)