17 March 10
House Sparrow
This morning I came across a dead house sparrow in the bed I’ve just planted with lettuce seed. I don’t know what got him—I couldn’t see any marks—but I hope the end was quick at least.
I was all set to draw the bird from the top (facing right) but decided to go for the challenge of foreshortened feet and the awkward angle of the head, and have the bird face left. It’s always a good thing to shake up my preferences. I couldn’t get the grays quite right and think I have some experimenting to do with constructing grays, not hauling them straight out of the box.
(I submitted this to Illustration Friday’s topic of March 19, “Expired.”)
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