The Abstract Bird (1 Viewer)

[Lykos]

hey..great sketches :t:

 

[solitaryVSong]

Thanks Paul, Gaby, and a Merry Christmas to you and all.

 

[mayoayo]

Great Sketches......Happy We made It to the Solstice once again!
Congrats

 

[solitaryVSong]

Great Sketches......Happy We made It to the Solstice once again!
Congrats

Thanks Manuel,

I have some friends who always send out a Winter Solstice card, if they don't actually have a party. When you think about it it's certainly something to celebrate. As you say we've made it to the shortest day of the winter and things can only get better from here.

A local radio station announcer always notes the amount of daylight hours. The announcer who notes that is always much happier once we start our upward trek to the summer solstice.

 

[JennyMK]

I really enjoyed catching up with your thread, splendid works of art, both the realistic and the lino prints!

 

[solitaryVSong]

Some newer work both realistic and abstract:

1.Northern Shoveler, multiple woodblocks
2.Wilson's Snipe and Lesser Yellowegs, acrylic
3.Eastern Towhee, acrylic
4.Red-eyed Vireo on Nest, multiple woodblocks

 

[Lykos]

the two last pictures :t:

especially the last

 

[abbotalefan]

Fab, love the shoveler woodblock print especially.

 

[solitaryVSong]

Fab, love the shoveler woodblock print especially.

Thanks Gaby and Sharon. I'm particularly happy you like the shoveler Sharon. I realized that for many it may just look like a throwaway print. But I do like it and spent a surprising amount of time on the tiny, little thing - about 2x3 inches. All in all I'd like to see my work go in this direction, thus the title of my thread.

But I keep being drawn back to more realistic work, as in the Snipe.

 

[solitaryVSong]

First thing I've been pleased with in quite a while, even though it's just a quick watercolor sketch. A Common Merganser, Pied-billed Grebe and two Bufflehead all seen today in the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

 

[Strandman]

First thing I've been pleased with in quite a while, even though it's just a quick watercolor sketch. A Common Merganser, Pied-billed Grebe and two Bufflehead all seen today in the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

Great pied-billed grebe

I do like it when an unusual shape/pose stays strong and doesn't get normalised into something more familiar, classic as it gets drawn and painted

 

[solitaryVSong]

Great pied-billed grebe

I do like it when an unusual shape/pose stays strong and doesn't get normalised into something more familiar, classic as it gets drawn and painted

Thanks Ed. Most of the waterfowl are starting to make their way north so the next subjects will soon be my warbler favorites, though they don't seem to pose as well as the grebes and such.

 

[solitaryVSong]

Well I feel like I'm finally living up to the title of my thread - the abstract bird.

This is a multi-block woodcut of two Common Mergansers, a Pied-billed Grebe, and a much more unexpected Red-necked Grebe all seen on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia this winter.

 

[Strandman]

Well I feel like I'm finally living up to the title of my thread - the abstract bird.

This is a multi-block woodcut of two Common Mergansers, a Pied-billed Grebe, and a much more unexpected Red-necked Grebe all seen on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia this winter.

much enjoyed the blog series on this one and your unwavering determination to keep it abstract- no way I could have resisted a lush and literal sploosh of salmon pink on the flank of the rear merg

 

[solitaryVSong]

much enjoyed the blog series on this one and your unwavering determination to keep it abstract- no way I could have resisted a lush and literal sploosh of salmon pink on the flank of the rear merg

Thanks Ed. I'm happy I stuck to my guns on this one and kept it fairly abstract.

One thing with prints as opposed to painting is that it's always much harder to just add a splash of color unless you plan it from the start. So if I wanted to change anything now I'd have to cut a new woodblock and then hope and pray that I got it registered correctly on each of the prints that's already been printed. I did that on some recent prints and always wondered if I wouldn't have been better off to just leave things as they were.

I have to say I've enjoyed this though. Hopefully I'll be working more like this for awhile.

 

[solitaryVSong]

A four block woodcut with one block being cut twice(red and pink). Blackpoll Warblers in fall plumage eating the fruit of Swamp Dogwood.

 

[ARTHUR BISHOP]

still producing the goods Ken. love them

 

[solitaryVSong]

still producing the goods Ken. love them

Thanks so much Arthur! Great to hear from you. I hope that all is well and that you're enjoying spring and its birds.

 

[ARTHUR BISHOP]

Hi Ken mind elsewhere My wife is in Hospital in Intensive care but starting to turn the corner. still pop in to see whats going on. take care arthur

 

[solitaryVSong]

Hi Ken mind elsewhere My wife is in Hospital in Intensive care but starting to turn the corner. still pop in to see whats going on. take care arthur

Hi Arthur,

Best wishes for a speedy improvement for your wife.

Ken