6 May 08
Thwarted by the Bullock's Oriole
I’ve been waiting to get a long enough (even 30 seconds would be fantastic) look at a Bullock’s oriole in order to be able to sketch it. The male is whistling and squeaking all over the place — at home and at work — and something that bright shouldn’t be able to disappear so easily into green. But he does.
The female helpfully perched briefly on the oleander bushes today at lunch. I caught a glimpse, then she disappeared too.
Bird artist Julie Zickefoose has been running a fantastic series on her trip to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the work of her hero, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, displayed around the library (I am sorry I didn’t pay more attention to Fuertes’ work when I worked at Harvard). Fuertes’ granddaughter reminds Julie — and us — that Fuertes didn’t have the benefit of a camera to figure out wing angles — he had to sketch from life. It’s a great reminder that it can be done. We can’t all be Fuertes, but we can all sketch!
John Muir Laws has kindly linked to Bird by Bird from his techniques page. I took a class from Jack last year and I have to say he’s one of my own heroes. Hard to meet someone more enthusiastic than Jack, for sure. If you’re visiting here from Jack’s page, welcome, and I do hope you’ll try sketching birds regularly. Certainly check his book out on the nature of the Sierra Nevada if you want to be inspired both about the Sierra and about the wonder that can be found in rendering that nature in two-dimensional form.
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Thanks for the shoutout, Pica! I admire your aim and your sketches. I should be so diligent! Keep up the great work.
Love those hand drawings. Thanks for the post!