Walkabout

Finished, I am calling this drawing Walkabout as the parent goose is taking three of his goslings for a walk. The parents of geese, ducks, and chickens don't feed their young they just take them to where they can find food. They do guard them and can be very protective. The above image is partly my imagination and partly based on photographs I have made.

As a total digression: I was at one of the Audubon Sanctuaries yesterday and ran into a young couple with child as they were starting their walk. We chatted for a bit and the father told me about his encounter with some wild turkey's the previous week. He had been walking in one of the wooded areas of the site and saw a turkey, a couple of minutes later he spied a lot of young speckled chicks, somehow he managed to get too close and the next thing he knew he was being attacked by a turkey parent who was flying at him to drive his away. As they are fairly large birds this is no joke, luckily for him he managed to get away with no major damage.  I was in one of the pond blinds and didn't see any turkeys on this visit. I did however see a fox just outside of the Sanctuary. I was driving so didn't manage a photograph.

Back to my drawing:

When I last posted this drawing I was debating whether to mask any parts of it. In the end I decided to mask the goose and goslings. The goose so I could paint the water without worrying about painting him/her blue and the goslings because I wanted an even color for the pathway. Again I didn't want to have to be that careful painting around the small birds esp as I knew I need to paint them yellow first. So the above image shows the masked drawing.

Below is my figure drawing from last night.

I am not totally pleased with it. Actually I wanted to move and take a different position, but for a change last night we had lots of artists coming to paint so there wasn't a good spot for me to move to.

I think I have her neck too long, and I know her foot isn't well drawn. I am fairly sure this model was once a ballet dancer, at least her toes look like they were once crammed into toe shoes. Not a pretty foot so I tend to not draw it in detail. Currently she is working crew at one of Boston's theater productions, and of course modeling.

This will be the last figure drawing for a couple of weeks. Next Monday is 4th of July and the Studio Session won't be held as most folks will be busy with friends and family. The following week the Model who is running the sessions has something she needs to do so won't be available. Not sure what I am going to be drawing instead so stay tuned and find out with me.

Indian Cucumber Root

This last image for today is a photograph I made yesterday at North River a MA Audubon Sanctuary, (not the one with the turkeys, that is Daniel Webster). I am fascinated by these flowers and usually I seem to miss them actually blooming. But yesterday I lucked out and found a couple of plants blooming in the woods. Apparently the roots are eatable, but I don't think I will ever check it out for myself as I usually see the plants on protected lands. This is a native species and the native american's probably did eat it.

Well enough for today. Per usual comments are welcome.