I came across a photograph of a Green Heron on Dina’s City Wildlife. The lovely, scalloped pattern on its wing caught my eye, so I tried to draw it. The background is a bit odd – one of these days I’ll work on a nicer coloured pencil rendition of water.
This is absolutely amazing!! Wow!! Love it! I love your background. So many layers and so much depth in the feathers. I’m really impressed with it!! Beautifully done!! 💜💛💜
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Thanks Laura :-). I almost gave up after colouring the top of the head. But then I took a little break and decided to play with another little section of the bird. There is a lot to explore in drawing birds: the bird, the colour pencils (or another medium), the effect of light sources and projection on a 2 dimensional plane, and my attitude. I finally picked up a book you recommended: The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds. It is wonderful – his drawings, his insights into drawing technique and bird structure, and his attitude.
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You’re a natural, gifted artist, in my humble opinion. Seriously, if the only thing Draw a Bird Day accomplished is to get you drawing again, it was a raging success.
I’m really glad you picked up that book. If you’re interested in studying birds, you can’t go wrong. But honestly…..your work here is stunning! I really do hope you keep art in your life! 💜💜💜
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PS: The thoughts you expressed about birds is how I now feel about every subject imaginable. A regular art practice has colored my life in the most beautiful and unexpected way. And not til I was over 45?! It’s such a continual surprise. Each glance at any person, scene, object, animal, etc. brings to mind a possible new subject. It’s like life started again, brand new! And you’re right: just focusing on birds alone could take more than a lifetime! Looking forward to August 8, to see more of your work!
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Thanks for the encouragement Laura :-). I really appreciate the enthusiasm you put into learning something new and sharing that journey. Your posts are always uplifting and inspiring. I’ve been reading about the structure of bird wings in the Laws book. I may have found bird anatomy a bit dry if I wasn’t interested in drawing birds. But now I’m super excited about primary and secondary feathers, the alula and a bird’s wrist. Bird’s have wrists! It is sooo cool! And now I know how a wing folds.
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You’re quite welcome! I skimmed that book, so I didn’t know that! Sounds pretty amazing. I’m glad you’re having so much fun with this. 😀
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I really like this! You did a nice job in particular with the textures and colors!
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Thank you :-). I think it was a good effort and I definitely learned a few things which will contribute to my next effort.
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I was quite impressed and am looking forward to more!
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Aw thanks :-). I think my bird drawing excitement may last a little while longer. The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds is a very interesting window into bird drawing.
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Beautiful! Much cleaner than the photo. Love it!
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Thanks Dina :-). I’m glad you like it. I find your photograph very beautiful – the bird looks stunning. I wanted to draw him whole but I’m very slow at colouring so I decided to focus on the top half. Maybe some day I’ll draw the whole bird. Those feet!
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You’ve taken some very nice photos yourself. It would be fun to see what you can do with one of those, also. This is very good!
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Thanks Melissa :-). Maybe I’ll draw a cute little white crowned sparrow I saw hopping around a community garden. He delighted me with a variety of poses.
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I’d say you nailed it! Nice work.
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Thanks Frank :-). I guess you see these in 3 dimensions regularly. I’ve only seen 2 dimensional ones so far :-).
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Very nice! I like the scalloped pattern in its wing too! Did you use Prismacolor pencils? 😊🎨🌟
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Thanks Jill :-). I have a Staedtler 12 pencil carry case. I think the colour I miss the most is white. I’ve been using yellow and cream to lighten other colours. I’m so glad you like drawing birds too! I went back in time and checked out your many creations. So beautiful and imaginative! And I found out that there are Screaming cowbirds. Yikes!
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Thank you for your kind comment! ❤️
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My pleasure :-).
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It’s a wonderful way to really observe. I’m enjoying observing your observation 🙂
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:-). I’m having fun looking at creatures and objects more closely, noticing the play of light and shadow, and details that I missed before. I’ve also been looking more closely at other people’s paintings and drawings. How do they create the illusion of things with lines, swishes and smears on paper?
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impressive!!
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Thanks Hui :-).
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[…] Myriam at Myr’s Bites (who gets two mentions because this painting is extraordinary, in my opinion) […]
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