Nature Journal, still catching up

Today I thought that instead of an update on the Mallard Female I have been working on (and I have been working on her) I would show you one of the other drawings I have in progress.

Above is a Green Heron, I used the image of the heron I used for my Nature Journal page in my last Blog update. The herons that day were relatively close and I was able to manage a pretty good photo. The drawing isn't done. The legs/feet and rock it is standing on need more work, also I need to decide what to do about the water background. In the photo the water looks green because of duck weed covering the surface of the water so I have to decide how to handle it. Right now I am just thinking of applying a light tone, I don't want to distract from the image of the bird.

I have two Nature Journal pages today. Above is from a visit to Daniel Webster on July 30th. It was a beautiful sunny day with a temp. in the upper 70's a nice break from some of our heat. First image is of the mallard family that I saw so often this summer. They seemed to prefer the south end of the pond  and were often to be found grooming themselves on rocks exposed by the lower water levels if they weren't feeding on the duck weed.

The bottom photo is of a Great Blue Heron. I don't often see them at Daniel Webster in the man made pond, they really are shy. This one which was quite close for a Great Blue but took off as soon as it either heard me or saw me in the blind, so I only managed the one photograph.

This next spread is also Daniel Webster, this one from a visit on August 6th. I wasn't able to make any good bird photos this week, all of the birds I identified were too much in the distance, Canada Geese, various hawks, Mallard Ducks, Wood Ducks, a Green Heron and a Spotted Sandpiper. It was a good bird viewing day, if not a good day for photographs.

So the top image is my usual tree trunk in the water (which was about the same as last week) and some thistle flower heads. Daniel Webster has a couple of different type of field thistles growing, mostly the smaller flower Canada Thistle (an invader from Europe) but there were a few of the larger Bull Thistle plants. The Gold Finch love Thistle seeds and will go after them as soon as the seed heads have dried out.

Another figure drawing, this one from about 3 weeks ago in August. I am relatively happy with this drawing, and don't have much else to say about it. A couple more posts and I should be caught up with these.

Above is the photo of the Great Blue Heron that I used as my reference for the Journal sketch. It wasn't really all that close to the blind, but still too close for the bird to be comfortable once I arrived.

For my second photo today I thought I would show off one of my Butterfly photographs. This is one of the several Skipper Butterflies that can be found here in MA. They can sometimes be tricky to identify so usually I don't even try. The flower it is feeding on is Blue Vervain. These guys are only about an inch long so I am very pleased with this photograph.

Per usual comments are always welcome.

Starting to Catch Up

I seem to have regained my desire to draw now that summer is on the wain. Above is a drawing of a female mallard that I started last spring. This week I pulled it out and have been working on her, she obviously isn't anywhere near done, but progress is being made. I also have a couple of other projects in the works, a larger version of the Green Heron I drew in my Journal and a pen and ink drawing of one of the Cape Cod Canal bridges.

I enjoy drawing birds just wish I could get better photographs of the more unusual birds that I see on my outings. I suppose what I need to do is make friends with some of the other photographers I see at various MA Audubon Sites and ask if I can use some of their better photos as reference for my drawings. In the meantime I will continue to draw using my better photos even if the subjects are every day birds.

Above is a catch up spread I drew this week in my nature journal. The visit was in July so you can tell I am weeks behind with my drawings. Subjects have all been selected, I just have to do the work.

Top left corner is a drawing of two morning doves sitting on the fence around the parking area. Normally they are quite shy so getting a good photo of them can be tricky. They are really kind of funny looking birds with small heads and rounded bodies. If they are on the ground their buff colored bodies they do tend to blend into the background.

Middle right is my old standby of the tree trunk in the Panne. Water level was about the same as the week prior, but I was able to make a photo of the mallard family swimming in front so I thought I would use it.

Bottom left drawing is of a Green Heron, there were actually 2 different Green Herons in the sanctuary that day. One was a young bird who sometimes had difficulties figuring out how to eat what it caught. There was at least one fish that got away. It had slightly different coloring through the breast (more white) than the older more experienced bird. It was so fun to watch them, and I did manage a couple of good photos, not sure which bird this was, not a good enough view of the breast feathers.

The figure drawing above is slightly out of order, meaning that I made this drawing the week prior to the drawing I used in my last post. I am still a couple of drawings behind when it comes to posting. This pose was a bit tricky, with the head angled away from me so I was looking at the underside of her jaw. I am not sure that I got the distances just right with the features. There are other issues with this drawing, but there are also some areas I like, legs and feet for one.

Above is a frog I photographed this summer at Houghton's Pond. Usually frogs jump in the other direction when they hear me coming, but I must have been quiet enough to not scare this one. It actually hopped toward me and was sitting right next to my shoe. I lowered the camera and was just shooting blind for this photo, one reason for the odd angle, though I actually rather like it.

A photo of a field at Daniel Webster, made the same day as my Journal visit above, in July. They mow most of the fields at least once every summer. If they didn't the trees would take over and the open habitat some of the birds require would be gone.

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

Labor Day 2012

Happy Labor Day to everyone here in the States. I am hoping you don't have to work, but if you do, hope it is at least a good day for you. Here in MA. we will have a lovely partly sunny day while we wait for the remains of  the latest Hurricane to drop a couple of inches of rain on us in the next couple of days. We can use the rain, though we haven't been as dry as the central US, and hopefully won't have the flooding they have down in the Gulf States.

Above is another of my mallard duck drawings. I was up at the Trailside Museum in the Blue Hills over the weekend and was photographing mallards. I managed to capture some different poses with the ducks this week so I thought it would be fun to draw one. A fairly quick drawing done in my sketchbook. The male mallards are starting to molt into their breeding plumage. The one above is starting to darken through the head and lighten through the under body/back.

Above are a couple of photos of mallard males, the lower photo was made this weekend and the top one last winter when the males were totally in breeding colors. Not sure that the lower male was the same one that I used for my drawing, there were several in various states of molting, but you get the idea. A couple of weeks ago all the males looked pretty much like the females except for their bills, female bills have black/dark areas on them.

I am slowly working in the Nature Journal trying to catch up. Not making a lot of headway, but at least I am not getting further behind. Above page is from a visit to Daniel Webster back in July. A glossy Ibis was back for a visit and feeding in the shallows.

The top drawing is of the tree trunk. You can tell from the amount of exposed trunk that the the water level in the Panne had really fallen that week. We have since had rain and it was back up a bit higher these past couple of weeks.

A figure drawing from one of the Monday night drawing sessions in August. I almost have her face as a portrait, It wasn't an easy pose for her to hold and she was able to hold it quite well. Scott seems to be into no frills poses since he got back from VT. I look forward to seeing what is in store for us tonight.

Here is the photo of the Glossy Ibis that I used as reference for my journal page. I didn't get the head shape quite correct, but I suppose it doesn't matter too much.

That is it for today. Per usual comments are always welcome.