Baltimore Oriole in color!

.

Well, this is surprising!  I painted something!

Yes, it is a shock to me...  I haven't done a flat painting in years.  I used to paint model horses, but hadn't even done any of that in at least a year.  I got a beginners kit of Gouache paints a few months ago, but was too chicken to try them out.  On a whim the other day, I printed off a copy of my Baltimore Oriole, and proceeded to paint on it.  This is the result.  I started with the orange breast, and ended up with a more "abstract" look than I expected, but I find I rather like it!

I'm not sure what this would be considered, the drawing was originally mine, but I painted over a copy of it, but whatever it's to be called, it was FUN!

Hmm...  Should have added more orange on the bottom of the belly...  Maybe I'll do that later...

.

Somehow or another

.

Well, not quite sure how it happened, but I managed to coax a bird off of the paper yesterday!

American White Pelican - Graphite on Paper

Copyright 2010, Nicole MacPherson

The American White Pelican is hard to miss, and quite conspicuous in this area from spring to fall.  We live in the middle of the city, but have Pelicans on our yard list - returning from a trip a couple of years back, a group of them flew overhead while we were unloading the car.  How cool is that?  They are often tolerant of a human presence, and are fun to photograph!  They make the funniest faces...  I spied this individual at Whitemouth Falls, one of a large group (maybe about 30) in June of 2006. 

I didn't have a clear enough photo to do a really detailed drawing, this is more of a sketch.  I was thinking about the oil spill while I was drawing, and had trouble with the shadows on this bird.  Maybe it was the oil on my mind, but my bird seemed more "dirty" than white. 

For some reason, I had assumed the oiled birds I'd seen pictures of were all Brown Pelicans.  Not sure why I thought that, it's not like the identifying features were visible. 

Took a quick trip to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Blog to see what they had to say.  They mention that the photos making the rounds online of birds "mired in oil" are Brown Pelicans, but the first bird in the slideshow is an American White Pelican with a good deal of oil on its feathers. 

In my reference photo, the pelican was resting, and probably had his head cocked that way to keep an eye on the water, in case any juicy fishies swam up.  But in my drawing, he looks to be casting a jaundiced eye to the viewer.  But maybe that's just me. 

.

Happy Earth Day!

.
Yes, I'm posting this to my art blog and my nature blog!  If you haven't already, please check out the gorgeous images collected on The Conversation Report's blog in honor of earth day.

Happy Earth Day!
.

Drawing - Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow (Detail) - Graphite on Paper

Copyright 2010, Nicole MacPherson

Still more blue haze on the scan, sorry about that!  I think I need to learn how to photograph these drawings, instead of leaving them to the mercy of the scanning software!  I actually did a full-body drawing of this bird, but in resizing the image fit on a computer screen, alot of the detail was lost.  Therefor, I offer you two versions of this drawing, the full image is at the end of this post.

Tree Swallows have charm in abundance.  Even when they're not doing anything, they look cute.  Through the spring and summer, most of the Tree Swallows you see are a beautiful iridescent blue.  In the fall, most of them are a soft brown.  It can be hard to tell them from the two "brown-all-the-time" Swallows, the Northern Rough-Winged and the Bank Swallows.  But brown Tree Swallows have a sharply defined transition from the colored head to the white chin (presented nicely by our model, above) and no brown across the chest. 

Tree Swallows can also break your heart.  In some places, they congregate in the hundreds, or even thousands.  Usually around marshes, but sometimes on powerlines and roads, where some are inevitably killed by cars.  But instead of leaving the source of danger and abandoning their lost loved ones, some of the Swallows will stay alongside their fallen friends, even as traffic continues. 

Tree Swallow - Graphite on Paper

Copyright 2010, Nicole MacPherson

.

.

Drawing - Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Yellow Rumped Warbler - Graphite on Paper

Copyright 2010, Nicole MacPherson

Wow, what a long time between drawings!  I actually started and abandoned four drawings between the Nazca Booby and this warbler.  Not sure why they didn't work, maybe I'll go back to them.  Or maybe not!

Yellow-Rumped Warblers are usually one of the first warblers to return in the spring, and usually the last to leave in the fall.  Warblers don't generally over-winter, but most over-wintering warblers are Yellow-Rumped. The other great thing about them is that they use birdfeeders!  I've had them eating sunflower seeds and suet.  And water brings them in like nobody's business!

When I scan these drawings in, I try to adjust the scanners settings so the image on my screen matches the actual drawings level of "darkness".  I don't know why the default settings make it show up so light - when I use the same setting for photos and drawings, you can barely see the drawing at all.  And then when it's the right level of "dark", the background turns blue!  Oh well, technical difficulties notwithstanding, it's nice to have another drawing completed.  Here's hoping the next one doesn't take six weeks as well!

.

.