Friday, May 20, 2016

a fallen jewel

Hummingbirds are the hardest bird to draw from life --- they just move too fast! The bird drawings in my previous post were sketched from a couple of field guides.

Unfortunately, this sketch was sketched from 'life'. Bill found this dead hummingbird in his woodshop. We aren't sure why it died.

The colors are iridescent green or black, depending on how the light hits it -- very hard for me to depict in watercolor! This is a female black-chinned hummer; the black chin or hood appears only on the males.

10 comments:

  1. Oh, what a shame, but what a wonderful opportunity! Beautiful job...

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  2. I wish I had better captured that jewel-like iridescence! She was so delicate.

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  3. Fabulous job, sketching their iridescence is a difficult task even with sparkly watercolors.

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    1. Yes it is! Sort of like trying to hold a rainbow in my hand.

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  4. I never before imagined what a hummingbird does when it's not flitting about madly. Absolutely stunning and brave sketch you've done!

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    1. Until we moved to this cabin in the central Texas woods, I had never had a chance to observe them closely. It amazes me to see them actually settle down to perch on the feeder's edge or sit on a branch of a nearby crepe myrtle. And they actually chirp! Sounds sort of like a dog's squeaky toy.

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  5. It's so lovely to see all your journaling and discoveries!

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  6. Yet there is so much more I haven't sketched . . . yet!

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  7. I am currently listening to many unknown birds sing and chirp -- wish you were here to help identify them, Kate! Our woods sound tropical in the springtime.

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  8. I'm not always that great at it! That's why I take sketches and photos and check the Internet or birding friends!

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