Daily Archives: February 23, 2011

It’s Working!

Male Cardinal sketch

"You and Whose Army?!" Colored Pencil - Prints $20

 Discipline.  No other deadline.  Bad weather.  A bird-watcher’s magazine.  Those seem to be the ingredients required for me to create one new sketch a day.

And I’m loving it!  I’ve never been brave enough before to attempt portraying my favorite Southern bird…  When I first moved to Atlanta, a flash of red outside the window sent me screeching to find my husband in excitement.  He thought something terrible had happened and came running.  “It’s a red bird,” he mumbled, clearly wondering if importing a woman from Oregon was perhaps not the best idea he’s ever had…  His brother had a similar experience with his Oregon wife when she moved South, which made me feel far less of a hysterical nitwit, but I still gasp at the sight of red feathers when I’m visiting down South.  This particular cardinal reminds me of the fellow who repeatedly atacked his reflection in Larsen’s kitchen window in Knoxville.

Original photo credits Birders World magazine

Daily Sketch 2/20/2011

Scrub Jay

"Scrub Jay" - Colored Pencil - Prints $20

 Feels like I’m on a roll – thanks to the President’s Day long weekend, I’ve managed to do three sketches in three days… the first one wasn’t quite what I had in mind, but the last few have been satisfying!  This is a Florida Scrub Jay, not quite like the ones we have in Oregon.  Those floaty little feathers are difficult to capture, but I’m learning.

I’m finding that the art itself is the easy part, because that’s always exciting once I sit down and get started.  It’s the business end of art that’s difficult, like scanning and posting that’s hard to keep up with.  That piece feels a lot like sweeping the kitchen floor… you finish, and two seconds later there are kitty kibbles and ants all over, and you have to do it all again.  Or not.

Original photo credits Birders World magazine