North Sea Bird Club....WOW

For me there is nothing more mind blowing than bird migration!

I regularly sit awake in bed and count down the days until I will once again hear the the piercing 'srrri' of migrant Blackbirds rolling in off a drizzly north sea at Spurn.

For anyone who lives for those moments the North Sea Bird Club Website is for you and the pictures in the bird gallery speak volumes of how harsh a sea crossing must be and reinforces just how resilient birds are.

I think the reason why this website is so incredible is because we as land mammals only sea the birds leaving and arriving and rarely get to see what happens to them out there!

That's not to say we don't think about them out there but its hard for us to even imagine what they have to go through during their journey......its simply beyond our comprehension!

Female Blackcap May 2004 (Borrowed from North Sea Bird Club)

I have also attached some links to some Youtube videos of birds at sea that I found which i find truly amazing!...i just hope all the migrants re-orientated successfully

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1_aXZFZKeg (PrarieWarbler at Sea including a legend of a man giving it a drink, what a star!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrOe43-zGBQ (Asio Sp. at Sea, probable Short-eared Owl 500 Miles Out!!!!!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEm5sZ38Fls (Probable Yellow Warbler at sea?)

I also attached this one of what appears to be a White-throated Sparrow and can't get over why anyone would feel the need to scare a bird in general let alone at sea whereby it is seeking refuge on a boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er_yPRUABwY

Lewington Brothers! LEGENDS!

I would like to thank Martin Garner for sharing this with the world on twitter as it is an awesome article!

http://www.richardlewington.co.uk/pdf/atropos.pdf

It was written by Richard Lewington (aka the wizard of invertebrate illustration) and looks at the benefits of  artwork over photography for identification guides

Check out Richard Lewingtons artwork at http://www.richardlewington.co.uk/

HIS SUBJECTS MAY BE SMALL BUT THEY ARE MOST CERTAINLY PERFECTLY FORMED!

AFGHANISTAN The UNKNOWN COUNTRY and Its very own SNOW FINCH!

For longer than I can remember I have been fascinated by Afghanistan and find the country, its people and terrain absolutely beautiful and fascinating and think the country (from what I have seen from friends photos and footage) simply stunning!

This post is not in any means about the military and political pressure imposed by the west on this unique Asian country or about my views on the situation there but more about the stunning people and its wildlife of this intriguing part of the world.

The following documentary was a fascinating eye opener to the parts of Afghanistan very rarely shown during press coverage of the country and a place i would like to think I may get the chance to visit in my lifetime.



After watching this film I couldn't get over the happiness and the beauty found within the rural communities despite their living conditons and living in severe poverty. The children were especially gleeful and had a certain air of magic about them. I remember thinking I needed to find away of capturing this through art and thought of know one who could capture the colour and the smiles of the children better than Patrick Gildersleeves who is by far my favourite non avian artist!!!

The best way to sum up Patrick's work is to think of a Masai elder with paintbrushes for fingers!

Freshly inspired by this film I commissioned this true gent to produce a piece of work that encapsulates what I love about this place. Not only did he hit the nail on the head but he brought a small piece of Afghanistan into my living room with some gouache and a paint brush and I can't thank him enough...its simply beautiful!

Honestly Patrick Gildersleeves is a genius and please take the time to look at his website and his blog. I'm sure you will agree his art is beautiful!

I also asked if he could incorporate a picture of Afghan Snow finch (Montifringilla theresae) which as endemic found only in the Hindu Kush (the mountain range between Afghanistan and Pakistan)

Afghanistan's very own finch can be found in Afghanistan's very first national park known as Band-e-Amir that was only designated in 2009. The park aims to protect one of Afghanistan's best-known natural areas: the spectacular series of six deep blue lakes separated by natural dams made of travertine, a mineral deposit. Travertine systems are found in only a few places throughout the world, virtually all of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list and are major international tourist attractions.

It is these blue lakes and the colour of the mountain streams that I find so beautiful and I can only further my gratitude towards Patrick for bringing these colours to life in this illustration.

I just hope I can visit this place one day and be fortunate enough to see such beauty! What a shame the snow leopard was wiped out of this area, If those stunning cats still frequented this area it would be unsurpassed.

Thanks for taking the time for reading a not so usual blog entry and hope you enjoy the art posted.

Best Wishes

Jack

SIR PETER SCOTT ORIGINAL DRAWINGS IN MY HAND........MIND BLOWING!

I Had a very surreal day on Saturday! I attended a Book Fair in York to see if I could find any nice gems relating to bird art or any nice old bird books hidden amongst the many shelves of antique books on display. There were many of the old classics on display namely British tits (Christopher Perrins from the Collins New Naturalist Series)
that seems to appear at every stall?

However every now and then I would come across a beauty of a book like The Sparrowhawk by Ian Newton which is made twice as amazing as it contains Keith Brockie's incredible illustrations! (SOME OF MY FAVOURITE OF ALL TIME...especially the bird incubating on nest...WOW) what I would give to get hold of a print!



Sparrowhawk and with feathers of prey, by Keith Brockie



Sparrowhawk Face On by Keith Brockie



Sparrowhawk Circling up over Landscape, by keith Brockie



Sparrowhawk Head Profile by Keith Brockie



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But the best was yet to come and on getting to the Modern First Editions Stall I was blown away with what lay ahead of me....SIR PETER SCOTTS ORIGINAL DRAWINGS FOR THE KEY PLATES OF 'THE WATERFOWL OF THE WORLD'!!!!!

Amazingly the Gentlemen (a real gentlemen it has to be said) running the stall allowed me to take it down from its display and look at every page and photograph them.

I was in Heaven!

This is the description given in the brochure regarding Sir Peter Scotts Work:

An archive from the estate of Sir Peter Scott's widow comprising thirty four line original line drawings and two dozen proofs by the great ornithological writer and artist for Volumes One, Two and Three of The Waterfowl of the World written by Scott's friend the French-American author Jean Delacour. In their clean lines and lack of fussiness these drawings reveal Scott's facility as a draughtsman and his extraordinary attention to detail, combined with the drive and determination which enabled him to carry through encyclopedic projects of this kind. These are the illustrations to the key plates which were bound into volumes I-III opposite Scott's colour plates of waterfowl. They are delicately inked onto tracing paper apparently by drawing over his own painted images for the coloured plates. There are pin marks which appear in the corners of all the sheets and would have held each one in place over the primary image. After completing the outline Scott then adds enough detail to effect the transfer from painted image to line drawing, rounding out the image and denoting significant identifying features. He appears to have decided that the images of chicks required the most shading and cross-hatching which makes them some of the most endearing images. Scott's final task for each drawing was to glue into position the labels that allow the reader to identify the species in both English and Latin. Most sheets also show additional annotations in Scott's handwriting. There are frequent signs of revision and improvement. Scott used tippex where he'd made minor mistakes and blue watercolour where a whole bird needed removing from the image. It's noticeable that he's more prone to these errors in the drawings for the first volume than the third volume which shows a much greater fluency of line, aided perhaps by the slightly smaller numbers of American and African species filling the page. In addition to Scott's notes there are printer's annotations concerning technical information, especially regarding the need to resize the images. VOLUME 1 covers The Magpie Goose, Whistling Ducks, Swans and Geese, Sheldgeese and Sheldducks: fifteen key plates showing quite heavy patterns of correction and emendation; each sheets labelled by Scott with some additional annotations and instructions. There is a letter from Country Life returning the drawings to Scott in 1962. VOLUME 2: The Dabbling Ducks - 23 proofs used for labelling and printed on slightly more opaque tracing paper; also in their original envelope. VOLUME 3: Eiders, Pochards, Perching Ducks, Scoters, Golden-eyes and Mergansers, Stiff-tailed Ducks. All 19 of the original key plates are present for Volume III drawn on a higher quality of tracing paper and consequently presenting clearer images. Plates in their original envelope. The drawings with their carefully positioned labels are testament to Peter Scott's lifelong mission to share his passion for wildlife, and waterfowl in particular, with the widest possible audience.

Here are some of the photos I took of the drawings and one taken from the website that's a lot clearer than my shaky efforts resulting from the amount of adrenaline rushing through my blood stream....











HOW STUNNING ARE THESE DUCKLINGS, LOOK AT THE SPECTACLED EIDER...WOW!

I would just like to say a massive thankyou to the gentlemen at Modern First Editions for all of his time and allowing me the privelage to look at an absolute legends work! I am very grateful indeed

If anyone would like any more information concerning these drawings or is interesting in them they are for sale at the Modern First Editions Website @ http://www.modernfirsteditions.com/product/originaldrawing334536576.html

BELIEVE ME THERE WORTH IT....There beautifully executed and the Ducklings/Goslings are incredible

An ARTIST in FOCUS

Jonathan Pomroy

I was meant to create a post before about the superb talents of Jonathan Pomroy but thought it was even more applicable to post one at present after seeing the latest Issue of Birding World and Jonathan's beautiful swift painting that decorates the front cover for all to see.

My first encounter with Jonathan's work was in various Yorkshire journals that I recieved after getting some of my feeble attempts printed in them. Looking back at my work In some of these I would have never have put them to print if I knew Jonathan's work was going to feature in them as they made mine look like scribbles of an infant.

I then wondered if he had got a website and a blog and found he had..Wahoo

See Jonathan's work here

http://jonathanpomroy.wordpress.com/about/



Little Gull by Jonathan Pomroy.....enough said!

An Artist in Focus: Szabolcs Kokay 'UNBELIEVABLE'

I was once having a conversation with Rebecca Nason on Fair Isle and can remember mentioning to her how amazing Szabolcs Kokay's artwork was.

Rebecca was in complete agreement and as coincidence would have It she told me that her stall was next to his at the bird fair.

At this point I vividly remember turning to her and saying that she should keep an eye on his work as he will undoubtedly become one of the masters of Bird and Wildlife illustration!

However I think I may have been wrong when I said "BECOME" I think I meant to say 'IS' and I hope this video illustrates my point!

HOW DOES HE DO IT??????



More of Szabolcs Kokay's mind blowing work can be found at:

http://www.kokay.hu/

and on his blog at:

http://kokayart.blogspot.com/

Check out his Squacco Heron in Watercolour....I'm speechless!

New Book: Drawing and Painting Birds by Tim Wootton

Where do I begin!

Lets just say I wake up very tired as I can't seem to put it down when I begin to read it just before bed. Not only is the text addictive but the pages are decorated from top to bottom with amazing artwork from some of my favourite artists and now new favourite artists.

Every aspect of bird art is covered in the book and takes you through each necessary step to get you started until you have reached completion on a finished piece. The beauty of any art book is its ability to relate to and inspire the beginner such as myself as well as a master of the field and this book does just that.

The book is segregated into the following sections

1. Why Paint Birds?
2. Drawing Techniques
3. Anatomy
4.Drawing Bird Types
5.Adding Paint
6.What and where to Paint
7. Elements of Composition: Placing the Birds in Context
8.Advance Techniques

and is a mass montage of colour, energy, and beauty that clearly conveys Tim Wootton's skill as a bird artist, his personal journey through art and his great passion for birds, bird art, the artists that inspired him and for life itself.

The only negative points I have to make about the book is the fact I don't get anytime to do my own art now because I can't put the book down. Also the book is beginning to jeopardise my relationship, as my girlfriend has lost me to the book and is sick of hearing 'how do you do that' and 'have you seen this' and 'WOW. WOW.WOW...look at this'.

It was bad enough before this book was published as I had not one, but two of John Busby's drawing birds books and now I have three books next to one another that talk to me when I'm sat around the house, 'PICK ME UP, PICK ME UP, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO' there worse than Kinder Bueno's....Yes its the book has be likened to Busby's books but honestly who gives a monkeys, surely more the merrier.

To all those negative critics I would like to refer to something John Busby once wrote:

'Too many wildlife artists shut their eyes to the values of the wider world of art, and then complain that their own work, which may ignore the aesthetic and emotional energies that are the lifeblood of art, is not admitted in the same league. Knowledge of subject matter is not enough. Art is a synthesis, a unity of the ideas and the means used to express them'

Yes I'm obsessed with this book and Busby's book and yes I don't care and I'm sure you will be yourself on opening it up. If you simply love birds or simply love illustrating and painting them you have to get this, that is unless you have a art deadline to meet

Right I have to go as I have a book to read.........oh and I may need to look into relationship counselling

Firstly a Huge Well done and Thank you to Tim Wootton and to all the featured artist

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK

Mark Andrews
Paul Bartlett
Robert Bateman
David Bennett
Arthur Bishop
Adam Bowley
John Busby
Alan Dalton
Adrian Dancy
Nick Derry
Paschalis Dougalis
Andrew Ellis
Angela French
Paul Hawkyard
Debby Kaspari
Ed Keeble
Szabolcs Kokay
Peter Mathios
Clive Meredith
Jocelyn Oudesluys
Bruce Pearson
Jonathan Pointer
Chris Rose
Beth Rosenkoeffer
John Threlfall
Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe
Esther Tyson
Franciscus Van Boxtel
Barry Van Dusen
Katrina Van Grouw
Juan Varela (all I can say if you haven't seen it already is wait until you see the drake Shoveler.....WOW)
Mike Woodcock
Darren Woodhead
Tim Wootton