Spring 2010 (Work in Progress)

I'm happy to say Ive finally got the Scanner working properly in the Obs Office so have been able to upload some of my spring work. Some of it is clearly unfinished but I aim to upload the finished pieces as soon as I have the time to complete the work. I believe art is as much about the development of the work than it is the finished piece. The majority of the work is orientated around the AMAZING island life on Fair Isle, apart from the Hawfinch which was caught at Spurn.(Ive been practicing drawing/painting Wheatears this year quite a bit as they allow great views for proper study unlike the Hoopoe that didn't know the meaning of a perch! (I aim to upload a painting of the Hoopoe later on this year hopefully))

HAWFINCH

Caught and Ringed at Spurn Bird Observatory



Male Wheatear

The Rippack, Fair Isle



White-throated Sparrow

Found around the Bird Observatory plantation by Simon Davies, one of the twelve+ to have graced the British Isles this spring. Great bird found by a great birder!



Male Wheatear

Fair Isle



Blue Fulmar

On the sea in Hesswalls, Fair Isle



Female Wheatear

Easter Lother Reservoir, Fair Isle

(colour reproduction from scanning it has made it very grey)



Golden Oriole

A Quick line drawing of a very beautiful bird sat on the fence just east of the Auld Haa just before it continued to tour the islands crofts in true Golden Oriole Style! IT IS CRYING OUT FOR COLOUR!



Dead Meadow Pipit Chick

Eas Brecks

Poor weather at the beginning of the nesting season was very hard indeed on the first broods and it wasn't uncommon to find the odd dead brood of chicks that had succumb to the hard weather



Turtle Dove

Fair Isle Bird Observatory grounds

This bird turned up one fogging morning just outside the library windows of the Observatory and fed on what was presumably small seeds left exposed on the bare earth.It stayed for a few days and was a real crowd pleaser, especially given that they are not easy to see these days given their dramatic population decline.It was a perfect subject to study as it fed just feet away from the windows in the lounge and the office.



Pigs

Setter, Fair Isle

I rarely draw domestic animals but these three piglets were impossible not to sketch as they were encapsulating. I made some small sketches in my 10cm X 5cm notebook whilst on migrant census and then worked from the sketches in my room to compose this little messy ink study.
(Unfortunately the scanner hasn't picked up on the colours very well so appears a lot colder than the original is.....I will work it out eventually I hope)

Back Dated Work (2009)

Sticking with the theme of pen and ink, these are a few illustrations I recently found that I completed back in the autumn of 2009. Two of them depict a Booted Warbler from two very different angles that was found at Spurn and the other is of a Great Shearwater stalling in flight on finding some edible flotsam off the Yorkshire Coast. One of the Booted Warblers and the Great Shearwater were used in Yorkshire Birding magazine and the other Booted (facing forward) was just a practice to get a feeling for the warbler that is a master at Shape Shifting and assuming strange positions on perching.