Pen & Ink Works on Paper | New Post Every Thursday
Spent much of the past week getting accustomed to the Pilot Custom Heritage 74 bold nib. I wasn't happy with my first drawings. This Common Merganser is a step forward. Using the Custom Heritage 92 for the blacks and finer lines I layered the two in a variety of hatching and contours. The result is... Continue Reading →
Shading with two blue fountain pen inks, drawing with newly returned Pilot Vanishing Point from repair and, these Black-throated Blue Warblers were the celebration
I've spent the past few days thinking about this pair of Mergansers that visit a nearby pond each year. A quick internet search will return more photographs of the male and its signature white on black full crest. Drawing these crests can be deceptive. Male or female I was tempted to draw one big circular... Continue Reading →
I'm late sending out holiday cards stuck on what bird to paint. I remember a friend sent me a photo they saw online of a strawberry finch. A Saturday afternoon watching videos of these dramatic and unique finches resulted in this drawing. I used a little permanent gouache for the bird's striking spots.
As the name implies this is a smooth looking bird especially when alert. It's tempting to treat the chest, wing and mantle as one volume. I didn't get to do much drawing today so this was a welcome meditation.
This was a satisfying pencil drawing and then I decided to try a gouache stain over parts of it. I immediately regretted it but kept going in the hopes of salvaging the sketch. It's a sketch in a sketchbook. The point is to allow room for mistakes.
They're fairly common but get confused as just another little brown bird lumped in with sparrows. A little stocker in appearance even when the feather groups tighten up when they are on alert. I didn't get too deep into showing their barring on the wings and tail. I may have actually played them down a... Continue Reading →
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