A Doodle, EDM 89, a Nature Journal Spread

I have been doing a lot of doodling lately not being able to settle on a subject for a major work. A lot of my play has been with a brown ink pen, but those doodles really aren't ready for prime time, or my blog so instead you get another flower. This one has a kind of bee flying around it. Done in pencil then I added color again with the Pitt pens. I have to admit I am feeling the lack of selection in my Pitt pen colors. I know they come in more colors, looks like I need to invest in a few more. They don't really blend on the paper, but it is still fun to mix them up a bit.

My other go to when I can't seem to settle on a large project is the EDM list. Today's drawing is for EDM #89 - Draw a Button or Buttons. I have a small stash of buttons and selected 3 of them for this drawing. I admit that I was selective, wanting different shapes and sizes but nothing too complex.

Next another spread from my Nature Journal.

Wednesday it was nice enough for me to venture out. I had another task I needed to accomplish so I didn't want to go too far. When I want someplace fairly easy to get to I tend to head toward the Blue Hill Reservation and in this case the Trailside Museum.

Since it was a nice day all of the animals seemed to be out and about in their cages/pens. The otter was swimming, the Great Horned Owl was actually visible, the two Red Tail Hawks were both in the center of their cage etc. There was even a small flock of mallard ducks at the pond.

The museum has a Gum Ball machine filled with duck food that visitors can purchase for the ducks. I fed them about a handful then wandered off to make photos in other areas. When I came back I found these two males in a tussle. Not sure if it was over the females or food. Either way I don't usually see mallards being so aggressive toward each other, so that became my subject for the Journal.

Below is my source photo for the drawing and another of a male mallard.

As you can see they were really going at it. But isn't the male coloring gorgeous. All the ducks seem dressed in their best, even the patterns on the female feathers are lovely. I did see another pair of mallards courting and mating on the pond so this fight may have been over a female, with 2 other males watching from the sidelines.

The above photo shows a couple of males. Look at the tail feathers on the one in the center, prior to Wednesday I didn't realize that those black feathers actually curl up, I just thought the black and white pattern I saw from a distance was multicolored tail feathers. In reality the upper tail feathers are black and the lower side feathers are white and it is perspective that can make them look somewhat like a checkerboard.

Photos were both made with the new lens. Hopefully I am getting a handle on how to use it.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.