JTMB's Bird Art (3 Viewers)

[John Richard]

I am impressed with your landscapes, the one on the left is very nice. I hope to see more of them!

John

 

[JTMB]

American Dipper

Thanks Colleen, Ken, bigshent, Gaby and John!

Here is a watercolor (with some gouache) I just finished - 9x12 inches. Although most of what I'm doing with birds right now is the sketching project for my 2012 sightings, I decided to do this one. Most of my bird paintings are bird 'portraits' so I decided to do this one more as a bird-in-its-habitat painting. This is an American Dipper, a species that is confined to a small range in the western US mountains along cold, fast-moving streams. I'm not sure if there is a European or Eurasian equivalent of this bird - hopefully someone will let me know if there is.

 

[colleenc]

Dipper is delightful John !

 

[solitaryVSong]

Dipper is delightful John !

One of your best John! I'd be very happy with this.

 

[JennyMK]

You captured the light on the water just fabulous! It was great catching up with you latest pages!

 

[JTMB]

Back at it...

Hi folks,

I just wanted to check back in after a couple years' absence and see who is still around and active. I haven't done virtually any art for about three years, but have been itching to get back to it, and have recently done so. My excuse (a pretty weak one, actually) for dropping out had to do with a couple of joint-related surgeries that required much and lengthy rehabs. In October of 2013 I had rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder following a fall I took on a hiking trip - of course it is my dominant arm. Then in October of 2014, I had my right knee replaced - it had worn out completely from a lot of athletics and outdoor activities over the years. After that, hoping to get at least one fall and winter off from surgical rehab, my left knee gave out and so last October, that knee was replaced. So far, the rest of my joints appear to be hanging in there!

I'll be checking in periodically on the forum to see what's going on, and hopefully posting some new bird art (I'll start a new thread). I'm looking forward to seeing how many folks are still here after my last few years' absence.

 

[DonB]

Best of luck with your recovery John, I'll look forward to seeing your new art work.

 

[Nick Walker]

I especially like the slightly abstract brushstrokes on the Kingfisher.

 

[JTMB]

Here are a few of my recent sketches. I started a sketchbook in which I plan to sketch each of the species I see in the field during 2016. On January 1st we did an annual 'Christmas Bird Count' for Audubon and saw 43 species, and I'm up to 68 as of today. So I'm behind in the sketching but of course the new species additions will slow down as time goes along. The sketchbook is about 8 x 5 inches.

Following the sketchbook birds are two other sketches done in a Copic marker sketchbook - 12 x 9 inches - pencil sketch first then Copic markers and som e Pigma Micron ink. The two marker sketches are a White-throated Sparrow (fairly rare in our area of the country) and a Chestnut-sided Warbler (very rare in the western part of the country). The sketchbook birds are American Robin, Orange-crowned Warbler and a Bewick's Wren.

 

[ARTHUR BISHOP]

Hi John its good to see you posting again and with new undercarriage.looking forward to lots more. arthur

 

[JTMB]

Thanks Arthur! It is good to be back to drawing and painting again.

Here are some sketches from my 'year bird sketchbook' that I'm working on. White-crowned Sparrow (primarily a summer species here, but some hang around over the winter); Bushtit; American Wigeon; Gadwall; American Coot. These are definitely quick sketches, not intended to be a finished product.

 

[resparza]

Very nice! I really like the ones made with copics. I've tried to "paint" with markers a couple of times but they never look that good. I'll need to keep practicing

Thank you for sharing!

 

[mayoayo]

Always fun to stop by...
Kind regards

 

[JTMB]

Thanks Rodrigo and mayoayo!

Rodrigo - I'm definitely going to do more with markers, as I also like how they turned out. The last few I've been doing are 'quick and dirty' with watercolor pencil and water brush since I'm still in catch up mode to sketch the species I've seen so far this year. The pencils and water brush are quick but don't give the best results. But of course, they're only sketches...and I have to keep telling myself that sketches aren't done with the purpose of making a finished product.

 

[JTMB]

Here are the next ten species from my 'seen this year' list that I've sketched. These are all done quickly, with a pencil sketch followed by watercolor and sometimes adding some Pigma micron ink.

I'm up to 91 species seen this year so far, so I'm still working off the backlog...!

 

[JTMB]

And the remaining five...

 

[Strandman]

Here are the next ten species from my 'seen this year' list that I've sketched. These are all done quickly, with a pencil sketch followed by watercolor and sometimes adding some Pigma micron ink.

I'm up to 91 species seen this year so far, so I'm still working off the backlog...!

Hello there- I do like these journal-style sets of images!