I completed the last work tonight on my 20 warblers on 8×10 wooden pages. I left the 10th page in pencil for “artistic reasons”. I suppose I want whoever looks at these to be able to better see where they come from. People always ask my “why birds?” The best answer I can come up with is that if you walked my mile, I imagine you’d paint a lot of birds too. Maybe the pencil work will help.
Who’s next? Finches? Birds for Atticus….
I found this watercolor from a few years ago while moving this week. I don’t think I’ve shared it here.
I’m excited to get settled here in this new big city and get to work on some new drawing/painting ideas.
I would take you home.
The other day I heard a friend of mine was having some health problems. I said a prayer in my head as I set out on my bicycle to admire the beautiful piece of the planet I inhabit. As I thought of this good for my friend a Red-shouldered Hawk flew right over my head from a tree behind me. Moments later I came across another tree with a pair of Red-shouldered hawks looking down to me on my bicycle. The smile that brought fueled me further and moments later I was face to face with another Red Hawk. I’m not here to preach to you about anything other than the good that is the natural kingdom, but I will say those hawks brought me good hope on their wings. An experience well timed, I am grateful for. Whatever unfolds down the line from here I am forever grateful to be here to draw birds for you on our planet Earth. If that’s all I’ll do then that’s the best I’ll do.
Thank you.
Watercolor and pen on paper.
Acrylic paint on plywood.
Scrub pencil Jay.
When all was said and done yesterday I found myself wondering the last time I saw the color blue on the end of my brush. I scribbled down a Scrub Jay before I went to bed. Tonight after working on a different project I colored it in.
And to my delight saw blue on the end of the brush again.
The blues ain’t so bad…
A lot simpler in pen.
Blue.
I spend a solid chunk of time looking at birds for drawing them. Books, Online galleries, and in the field. I like to pretend I take it seriously. Striving for a fair bit of accuracy to best represent the species I chose to draw. That being said sometimes it’s fun to play with color. I “finished” this a year ago, but got tired of looking at it everyday so I put a little more paint on it.
farnco illustrations 