Birdwatching from my Studio Window

This was the quick sketch, just the basic shapes of this goldfinch in winter attire...my favorite HB mechanical pencil works great for these sketches.

I decided a slightly more dynamic pose would be nice, so I waited till the bird turned its head and re-drew!

I added larger shapes first in color...

...and continued to develop the details.  I got out the goauche to add a few fine white feathers and the sparkle in his eye.

You can see it's been a while since I did him!  I meant to post the progression sooner...I see I added the finished piece shortly after I painted it!

Mystery Fungus?? Gall?? What...?

We had a delightful picnic the other day at Watkins Mill State Park, in the deep, cool woods.  This has been an amazing spring...if it were like this every year we would be crowded with people wanting to move here!

After we ate, Joseph read and I sketched...I'd put brown ink in the cartridge of my little Carbon pen, and loved it for its ultra fine nib.  It let me really zero in on the leaf and the strange, colorful bits with their star-like opening--fungus, gall, insect nest?  You tell me!

They reminded me of miniature Earth Star mushrooms...

Journal Sketches from the Midwest...

Of course I had to try my hand at that "SuperMoon."  We hopped in the car in our nightclothes and drove up the hill for a better look!  It just glowed...30% brighter and 14% larger-appearing at its perigee, closest to the earth.

Mourning Doves and their family...

It's been lovely having mourning doves in the yard, lately...around here they're more likely to be in more suburban or rural areas.  Being able to watch them so closely reminded me how similar they are to the extinct passenger pigeon.

I recently found this rough sketch, left, on the back of an old bank deposit slip...I did research years ago for an article for Country Living Magazine, and drew on what I had with me!

Squirrels Again.

Squirrels Again., originally uploaded by Cathy (Kate) Johnson.

More quick studies of the squirrels that enjoy my offerings of corn...unlike some, I invite them to share our goodies. I love sketching them!

These were quick colored pencil sketches, with watercolor, colored pencil, and ink added later...whatever it takes!

Goldfinches!

We have a LOT of American goldfinches at the shed this year.  I've never had the opportunity to see so many, so close, and it's interested to see them in mid-moult, from winter colors toward spring. 

In a month or so, this little guy will be bright yellow in the places he now shows an olive-y brown, and he'll wear a jaunty black cap that's just now coming in, a few feathers at a time.

They're amazingly bold little birds, taking over the feeders and refusing to give ground, fussing among themselves, and staying put when I go in and out.  Very much UNlike the chickadees, which seem to travel mostly alone, and do a quick snatch-and-run!

Bits and pieces...

I'm still a big kid...I'm fascinated by small things, close up, nose-to-nose--if a branch HAD a nose...

This branch blew down in our recent winds--I knew the woodpeckers had been active, but I didn't realize HOW active till I was able to see this up close...and lots of ear fungus along the branch, too.

Wood ear, tree ear, jelly ear--whatever you call this dark brown fungus, it apparently grows
almost worldwide, and is considered edible, in some areas.  (It's an ingredient in traditional moo shu pork.)  I'm big on wild foods--even wrote a cookbook about it when dinosaurs roamed the earth--but I have to admit these have never made it to my dinner plate.  They're kind of cold and clammy and just not that appetizing...anyone tried 'em?

And I couldn't resist sketching the bittersweet that came down from the highest branches at the same time...my mom used to love these bits of natural beauty, and I must have inherited it from her.  My usual source of bittersweet is gone now; the fencerow where it grew every year has been bulldozed away, so I was delighted by this gift of the wind.

The birds have been enjoying the berries, as well...only one left on this little sprig!

Trumpeter Swans

I headed out to Cooley Lake today to see if I could find the swans my friend Phil Jeffries photographed the other day...sure enough, I did, but couldn't get really close. It was cold and very windy, so I sat in my car to sketch these huge birds...

This is the view from my Jeep "studio."  If you look close you can see the swans out there in the mudflats.

I couldn't see that well, even with my little binoculars, but this was my start, with my old rehabbed Winsor & Newton sketch kit.

A bit further along, working in cramped--but warmer!--conditions.

I managed to get some decent shots with my new Canon, which is what I used to work from  on the right hand page of this spread.  Even with the binoculars I really couldn't see much.  The camera did a much better job!

I'm glad Phil got such a great photo of the immature swan...if it had been younger, the beak would have retained some pink color, so it much have been almost fully grown.

Thank you, Phil Jeffries, for sharing this wonderful photo...Phil's photographs are often in Missouri Department of Conservation publications.

Trumpeters are returning to their historic territories, from the brink of extinction...they were very rare only a few years ago.

Cardinals in FLOCKS!

Busy times at the shed!

There were nine males when I did the sketch, but ELEVEN by the time everyone had showed up for dinner...plus 5 or 6 females.

I don't remember EVER seeing this many cardinals all in one place before...the males are quite territorial, but it's winter and we offer them lots of feeding options and different stations around the yard.  I'm entranced by the bright colors and the interaction between them, and find myself sketching them again and again.

These are all graphite-free, no preliminary sketching, just hurrying to get it down--the male above isn't all that successful, but it WAS a challenge.  I was trying out the new Stillman & Birn Epsilon journal on the bottom two images...it's very smooth paper meant for writing, but I love the puddly effect of watercolors on smooth paper.

Winter Visitors

It's that time again...when the snowbirds, avian and human, head south for the winter!  This year has been so mild that we'd only seen a few juncos, but now that it's finally icy, we had a flock of them.  Last year it was a month earlier, at least, as I see in this POST.

I always love watching them against the snowy path, mining for seeds...

And I ALWAYS seem to misspell the plural of juncos...

Woodpecker Condo

Noodler's flex pen and watercolor...

Our old cabin is surrounded by walnut trees; for years I'd watched the woodpeckers build their homes above my head, knowing that they'd hollowed out the tree beside the deck.  This winter, our howling winds took out the top of this one, and I dragged it up onto the deck to sketch. 

This particular nest had two entries...the one near the bottom of the photo probably led to another hollow like the one between these two...

Our friends were out cutting wood--another tree that had fallen near the cabin--and Joseph was fixing the broken window, so I sat on the deck and sketched.

Cardinals

Cardinals, originally uploaded by Cathy (Kate) Johnson.

I don't remember ever seeing this many cardinals all together, and especially not 5 males all together. They're very territorial, except in family groups--and this would have been a BIG family!

I used VERY quick gesture sketches to get their poses, and then firmed them up with color...

Feeder Birds

Most of a journal spread...there's a bit of text on the page on the right...

Detail...I decided to add a touch of color with colored pencil on the downy woodpecker.

My morning routine usually includes some time in my little shed studio, with a cup of coffee and some bird watching.  I had a section of toned paper in my journal, and decided to draw the tree just off the deck with my Micron Pigma pen.

The feeders are on shepherd's hooks just in front of the tree, so the birds find it a perfect perch as they take turns at the 3 feeders there.

This morning, in addition to the goldfinch (9 in all at the feders) and downy woodpecker you see here, there were snowbirds, sparrows, chickadees, titmice, cardinals, brown creepers, and blue jays.  A noisy bunch!

Today's Plein Air

Today's Plein Air, originally uploaded by Cathy (Kate) Johnson.

Fun painting on the spot and trying to make a video!

Insects Everywhere!

I was in a contemplative mood when I noticed all the insect presence at the shed...and decided to sketch as much as I had time for.

This is a nifty little pen that has a very sharp nib...lots of detail possible.  Here you see bagworms and galls and all kinds of chewings!

*Here's a link to my review of the nifty little pen--I actually cut the long desk-pen type end off to make the cap fit.

Can you see the gall up on the twig?  That's some insect's home...it damages the plant and provides the young with food, so I'm told...

Not even the poison ivy was immune!

Oak leaves have lots of tiny nips along with huge bites...voracious nature!

Gooseberry leaves provided someone with a good dinner...

Trumpet vine leaves were nearly transparent with dessicated sections...

insects and friends

An evolving sketch over days--I started over a week ago.  All of these were on my deck at the shed at one time...so I did the rough sketch below with a Prismacolor Verithin black colored pencil, then took photos to refine them.

These are not much more than quick gesture sketches...I was standing up, the butterfly might move at any time, and the katydid, DID!  Sort of a slow-motion sloth effect...

 

I increased contrast so you could see the lines better...really, mostly just going for shapes and poses here, not detail.

slow-moving but definitely MOVING bush katydid...

My reference photos were really helpful in getting at the details I'd missed, although I never COULD get my camera to focus properly on the walking stick. 

I love the cricket-like sound of katydids on a summer night...

I waited a few days to add color, until my new open-stock Verithin pencils arrived from Dick Blick--and then decided to add some watercolor after all! 

 I couldn't resist adding the daddy longlegs or harvestman, which strolled up later...and before you say "ick, I hate spiders," these aren't spiders at all!  They have their own order, they are non-poisonous, and they eat other small insects.  They're very beautiful, up close, like a jeweled mosaic box.

Colored pencil and watercolor.

Yardfull of sparrows...

I can recognize the male English or house sparrow, but other than that, I'm lost...no wonder people call them LBBs!  I think most of these are probably female or immature house sparrows, though...

He house sparrow is not a true sparrow, and not native to the US; another of those birds imported by some well-meaning romantic a hundred years ago or so, I believe...

You can year their songs and chatter sounds (as well as the crazed flock calls!) here and read more about them here..

Squirrels again...

They'd made themselves scarce for a while, but recently this guy and a smaller gray have been back, checking out the black oil sunflower seeds and the ripe mulberries...

Lots of photos and information on this link --our Eastern Fox Squirrels are very different from the boldly- marked Southern Fox Squirrels! 

They can do a lot of damage, and they have, on my old cabin...no idea WHY, but they like to chew the window trim and railings.  The trim on the cabin corner is ROUNDED now...and splintery.