Practicing snow and shadows with the Mulberry tree behind our house
I did work on the nature journal a bit this past Winter/Spring. I love our birds and critters but this year we did not feed them. There was a scary disease going through this part of the country. Thankfully, I did not see it with our birds, but the DNR asked us to not feed them in case it was spreading.
During the Hooting Season, the Great Horned Owls behind our house will go into a horizontal position and fluff their white bib as they hoot back and forth. Little eggs will soon be happening!
Day 1: Fish – Belted Kingfisher in my Nature Journal
It is Inktober! This year I am taking the course from Sktchy: Inktober2020 Portrait Challenge. I am not planning to stick to only portraits, but I am going through each day’s course and using what I am learning.
Day 2: Wisp (me at the age of 2 – and that wispy hair). A tentative use of a light ink wash for the first time, as well as using a brush pen.
My main focus this month is learning portraiture. Portraiture has terrified me my entire art life. It is time to lay that ghost.
Day 3: Bulky (for the bulky lines and sticks.)
Day 1 of the classes I learned how to create ink delivery systems out of sticks from the back yard and dipping ink. It was so much fun! I thought Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s image lent itself well to this style. This was such a freeing experience.
Another one for Bulky is an ink wash of a Dark-eyed Junco. I am not yet sold on ink washes. The light ones I love, but the heavier ones, I have not yet found my comfort.Day 4: Radio – blind drawing
6 of my nieces have joined me this year. We zoom once a week to look at what we are doing and I give them one assignment a week. This week was to do a blind drawing and then I also have to do it. I forgot how much fun some of these fundamental drawing exercises are! I hope they can cut loose and just enjoy their pens.
This is Notch – I think she may be a first time mother. She has at least 2 babies so she got bold enough to come up to the deck. It seems they get hungry about this time of year. I also see them in the deep winter when the snow is thick. Otherwise, they only visit at night. How do I know? My tomatoes growing on my second story deck keep disappearing.