Monday, February 1, 2016

Watching Egrets

Some of my best opportunities for sketching in nature come when my husband is busy photographing and I sketch.  We sit quietly in the car, both glued to our subject.  Great egrets winter in the valley where I live.  This winter we've seen up to 23 in a wet swale only about four miles from our home.

These were sketched on Jan 15.  Today, we returned to the same spot for our fourth visit.  We still had 12 egrets .... but they were farther off on a higher part of the pasture.  I confess, my husband and I both fell asleep waiting for the marvelous birds to come closer.  I don't get much sketching done with my eyelids closed!.... but it felt delicious.  Just image the milky sun keeping the car warm, the window cracked open just far enough to hear far off crows, occasional croaks from the egrets, and robins nearby.

By the time the egrets finally came near, the clouds had also come in to .... so no photographing  or sketching today.

For those of you who are interested, these were lightly penciled first, then inked, erased -- very quick.  Finally I add the watercolor, some in the car and some at home since I ran out of time.

5 comments:

  1. What a perfect day! I would love to see that many egrets...

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    1. It is a sight to see, especially since many are getting their long plumes, typical of breeding season.

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  2. I'm going to have to check out that spot. I've only seen two in one spot at once. My favorite bird too. Napping in nature sounds blissful actually. Better then napping in front of the TV. :) You really captured them here.

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  3. Don't wait too long. The egrets will be moving on to their nesting colony before long.

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  4. One of my favourite birds, we have little egrets here in Northern France, the ones with yellow socks. There is always one poking around at the edge of the harbour when we go for our walk and the sight of them roosting in the trees has become a tourist attraction!

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