Egyptian Goose Watercolour

Egyptian Goose Step - 22 x 30cms Gouache on Khadi paper

The geese were developed from my watercolour sketch:

I have a passion for  Egyptian Geese but have only seen them at an agricultural show in Umbria.

Often the desire to paint birds means one has to beg, borrow or steal (never!) a photo reference.  This time I am extremely lucky to have a wonderful photograph taken by a good friend in Richmond Park, London.  I could go on painting it forever.

© Alison Staite 2012

Sparrow sketch

This time last year I was embarking on the Every Day in May Challenge  which originated through the Every Day Matters EDM Group, it was a fantastic thing to do and I made lots of new artist friends of Flickr but I did find I was spending a lot of time on my daily sketch, so I'm not going to join in this year.  I will enjoy watching what Wendy - Quirky Artist - and the others do.

I'm going to try to sketch something every day this month because I can certainly do with the practice, I just won't be working from a list of subjects.

Day 1 is a pen and wash study of a sparrow.  He's loosely based on one of my photos.  I'm still not quick enough to sketch much but pigeons from life.

Still life with Robin

Robin on Toast - 24 x 30cms oil on panel

Impossible to photograph this at the moment and it's a little large for the scanner so the scan is a little soft.  But I haven't posted any work for ages.

The robins are constantly in our garden this winter so a lot of time evaporates as I sit at the bedroom window with binoculars.  To date I've had no luck inviting them inside to share my toast!

Robin - watercolour

Watercolour on Bristol Board 24 x 16cms

Anyone wondering when I'm going to get sick of robins?  I'm still experimenting with watercolour on different grounds.  Bristol board loves graphite and pen as I recall but it didn't allow me to achieve the effect I am after with watercolour.  So now I'm painting some acrylic gel on hp watercolour paper.  I might spare you the results.

EDM #125 - Draw a Bird

It's taken a while but the collared doves are now happily at home in our garden, competing with the sparrows and pigeons for the food and bath. This one sits peering into the bedroom at me while I peer back through my binoculars. They are so dainty, I love them.

Still dragging the chain with my Every Day in May Challenge. You can see everyone's drawings on the flickr group: http://flickr.com/groups/edmeverydayinmay2011

I need to catch up by the end of the month so I can post #131 on May 31 and pretend I kept up the discipline of painting every day.

Blackbird Watercolour Sketch

Blackbird Watercolour 6" x 4"

I'm playing around with a postcard format and practising sketching my favourite little model. The reference for this sketch is a beautiful photograph* by Tony Wills of New Zealand and I thank him for permission to use it.

Lately I've been hanging bird feeders; scattering seed; investing in a telephoto lens and (the favourite) getting Pentax Papilio binoculars for Christmas, but the bird models I crave continue to elude me. Thank goodness for generous photographers like Tony Wills and Wikimedia.

I will continue to draw this little fellow until I can do him justice.

A few people are resting their blogs at the moment and I think it's a good time to do the same. See you in 4 or 5 weeks.


* blackbird. Tony Wills. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackbird_%28male%29.jpg

Hoopoe & Feather in Gouache

Balance - Gouache & collage 29 x 29cm

This is the third in my series of gouache and collage.

Editor's Note: I've replaced the image to get rid of the grey colour cast.

Gouache sketch, plus...

Neighbours' Washing
Gouache on Clairefontaine brown kraft paper

If you visit on Sunday night you are probably going to be offered leftovers. That's what this post is ... leftovers from a few days of experimenting.

That's a new Clairefontaine sketchbook above - I like the colour but it is very thin and the paint is inclined to collect on the ridges of the paper.

Another experiment - Pigma Micron 005 pen with watercolour wash on rough CP paper. It's a corner of my favourite Piazza in Florence, where I'm going to stay next weekend. So you could call this one Practice.

Hydrangea - Monotype
- Caran d'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble pastels on Japanese Ho Sho paper

Monotype - oil paint on Fabriano white paper

So, who said I have too many art supplies?!

Sketching Birds in Watercolour

Robin - watercolour & mapping pen

With both Katherine Making a Mark and Toni A Spattering painting and drawing beautiful bird studies from their own photographs, I have been very envious. My friend Catherine in Dorset has a new camera with a very long lens (as well as being taller than I) so I begged her to point it at a few birds. Bless her, she did!

Spotted Woodpecker - watercolour & mapping pen

In an effort to loosen up my watercolours I sketched these birds with a brush and added a few touches of ink at the end. It really does stop me fiddling and I'm quite pleased with the results. I'm going to leave my pencil at home and try this approach with some other subjects.

In Florence in December I stood and froze trying to sketch the Ponte Vecchio amongst a crowd of tourists. I was using my fountain pen and waterbrush loaded with an ink wash. Apart from the humiliation of not being able to draw a straight line in public, I wish I'd tried the watercolour brush painting approach. Maybe next time, when my teeth aren't chattering. I obviously don't have the Right Stuff for sketching outdoors in a northern winter. Probably my thin Australian blood.

Ponte Vecchio - Montblanc fountain pen & Pelikan Brilliant Brown ink

Pen & Ink

The house next door is about as far as I'm now prepared to venture in the cold.

Resident of Rome

Watercolour HP paper 21 x 28 cm

I thought of calling this post The Unloved, because they largely are, poor pigeons. I'm rather fond of them and have great admiration for their impeccable taste in real estate. They live at all the best addresses: Piazza S. Marco, Piazza Di Spagna and even here, in the tower at Castiglion Fiorentino.

I'm still not quick enough to get a meaningful sketch of a pigeon on the run. I photographed this little fellow in Piazza Farnese in Rome. I painted him in the sketchbook made for me by Marta.