Saturday, January 16, 2010

Sketching Phoebe Allens--Vickie Henderson

Phoebe Allens is a female Allen's Hummingbird who lives in the Channel Islands, Orange County, California. She is incubating two eggs and has her own live video cam and broadcast. And what a treat!
I started watching her yesterday and couldn't stop. It was amazing to see her bring nesting materials to add to her nest, hear her zip off for a few minutes, see her stand up and reposition the eggs, then watch her settle down again, wiggling until everything was just right. Immediately, I wanted to sketch her.
And so I did. Several times. Since its cold outside, this turned out to be a fun (and warm) way to practice sketching a moving subject. She's moving all the time, though not as fast as we have come to expect. The unusual, of course, is that you get to see her upclose.

Try it and see if you don't fall in love with her. And keep in mind, the female hummingbird is the sole gatherer and builder of the nest and the only provider for the young. And in Phoebe's case... she was photographed incubating one nest while she still had juveniles in another! You'll find this image by clicking on the 'photos' link at the top of the cam page.

To see Phoebe visit: http://cam.dellwo.com/
To see more sketches of Phoebe, visit Vickie Henderson Art.

10 comments:

  1. Wonderful sketches! Thanks so much for telling us about this site...I'm hooked on it now...can't wait til the babies hatch!

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  2. BEAUTIFULLY done Vickie! This is so gorgeous!

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  3. Thank you, Debo. I'm in the hooked category too!

    Thank you so much, Maree!

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  4. Wonderful! Thank you Vickie!! I got hooked on an Osprey cam a few years back - it can be consuming and oh so fun to sketch from. Great job!

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  5. Thank you, Pam! Hummingbird are so tiny and quick. It's an inspiring treat to get such a close up view. Eggs will hatch in about 2 more days.

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  6. Super sketches! Light and lively, just like the birds....and thanks for the link; it's fascinating!

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  7. Thanks, Jeanette. Glad you visited the link. I visited her again this afternoon and she was in an entirely different position. I was tempted to drop my work and sketch her again. I love seeing how the individual feathers lay and the detail...live, moving detail, that we can't see normally.

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  8. They're just lovely, Vickie! Thank you for the link, it's wonderful...

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  9. I LOVE your drawings!!! Hummingbirds! Too wondrful! Thanks for the link too!

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  10. Vickie, this is just wonderful. Pam alerted me to this post. I am so happy she did. I enjoyed the painting, the photos, and the videos. Thank you for sharing with all of us.
    Judy

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