A Century of My Watercolors, or Perhaps Just Eleven Years

American Wigeon. Watercolor  by Ken Januski.

Well!!! It's been a long time since I've posted anything here. But not quite as long as the time between the two watercolors of Pine Warblers below, that being almost eleven years. As I said in 2017 I eventually found that there wasn't much of  an audience  for  the blog, if you ignored hackers or  other undesirables, and I also found that writing time took away from painting time.

Still art is a balance I think between work and thought and one should not be totally ignored for the other. So there are a couple of thoughts for this post.

One I was reminded of by Robert Greenberg in his Great Courses course on Concert Masterworks. I think  he was talking about Beethoven. He said that composing music is much more than just writing a  melody; it's also about rhetoric and logic, basically organizing a piece of music.  In terms of art it means that a representation of something is not enough, no matter how many details an artist might include. It's got  to hold together logically and also captivate an audience. That captivation is through expectation and surprise. We should all understand that from our own experience so I won't go into it.

Another thought: watercolor is  not my forte. But I keep going back to it. For one thing I've found  that it can be a way to quickly explore an idea or subject. But another is  that it is one of my favorite mediums, but only when done by a master like Winslow Homer or John Singer Sargent. It can be such a bright, fresh, light-filled medium and it seems perfect for portraying birds and the outside. I did a maximum of three watercolors in all my years as an undegraduate and graduate(at 2 colleges) student in studio art. It was only when I decided to use birds as subjects in late 2006 that I turned to  it. And boy did I have a lot to learn. I guess that's why I'm showing  the brand new watercolor from today below as well as one of the same subject from eleven years  ago  in 2007. They show, along with the other watercolors here, my progress over the years.

A final thought: sometimes it can take a long while to figure out the right medium for a subject, for instance woodblock, watercolor, charcoal drawing, oil painting, etc. I spend much of my time looking at photos I've taken or sketches I've done from life, waiting for one of them to spark an idea, some possible way to create a piece of art that I'll be happy with. In other words I'm looking for inspiration. But inspiration is not easily found. Recently I decided that when a subject seemed interesting but where I still couldn't figure out the medium to use,  or the composition or some such thing, that it was best to just do something  at  that time, rather than let if  fade into my memory because inspiration wasn't there yet. Most of the watercolors here, outside of the old Pine Warbler watercolor, were done with that motivation.

Both the American Wigeon and the Prothonotary Warbler were based on photos that I'd taken and that struck me. But I still couldn't figure out either the medium or  the composition. So I decided to just do fairly large watercolors and see what happened. At 12x16 inches they were too small, at least for me, to just be studies. But there also wasn't the pressure to do a finished work of  art. I'm happy with them and with the method. It seems like a better way to get to more developed work than to just file away an idea for another time.

Pine Warbler. Watercolor by Ken Januski.

Often in the past I've done quick pencil and watercolor  sketches  of birds that I've just seen. I often want to commemorate the sighting in some way. So  the first step is a sketch. That was the motivation for the Pine Warbler above. A very early one appeared very briefly outside my studio window two days  ago. But I also wanted to get away from small sketches. Such small sketches are nice in that they are too small to  create worry about failure. On the other hand they are also too small to motivate much ambition. So I'm  trying to work larger and on better paper when I want to commemorate experiences. Some will be failures. But I  also might get a more finished work of art. Right now I'm using watercolor  for this but the other day I  was a bit tempted to go back to  acrylic again. We'll see. In the meantime I'm relatively happy with this. And it is an improvement, though not  as much as  I'd like, over the watercolor from 11 years ago below.

Pine Warbler. Early Watercolor by Ken Januski

I've already talked a bit about the watercolor of a Prothonotary Warbler below. Since it is a rare bird for Philadelphia, and especially for anywhere  other than John Heinz NWR, I was really happy to see it. This is the second watercolor I've done of  it. The other is in sumi brush pen and watercolor  and is based on the same photo. So there is some similarity to  this. But neither of them fully portray the experience as I'd like to, even though I'm quite fond  of the watercolor below. That I think gets back to what Greenberg said about being more than a melody. Good art or music uses its language to create something much larger. So that will remain an ambition for my experience of a Prothonotary along the Wissahickon. It may very well be that only an abstraction, in one medium or another, will do the trick!!

Prothonotary Warbler. Watercolor by Ken Januski.

The Geese Before the Snow

Over 225 Snow Geese Flying Over Morris Arboretum. Photo by Ken Januski.

Snow Geese Flying Over Morris Arboretum. Photo by Ken Januski.

So I had a nice day out birding today, seeing a number of new birds for the year. When I got home I had a very late lunch and turned on the television to see a blizzard warning for New York City. Blizzard?! We're not exactly next door to NYC but close enough. How could the 1 inch that was predicted for us turn into 12-24 for New York? Well as soon as I investigated I saw that we were now expected to get 14-24 inches.

So I guess that may help to explain the flock of 750-1000 Snow Geese that I saw flying over Morris Arboretum today. I was still changing shoes in the back of the car talking to someone from the arboretum when we heard some squawking, a squawking that didn't sound right for Canada Geese. I grabbed my camera and binoculars which were still in back of car and not yet around my neck to take a quick look. In the next minute or two three large flocks flew by. The photo above shows that they are in fact Snow Geese. The top photo show just how many.

The top photo is part of what we thought was a flock of 200. But there are 229 birds in that photo and it's not the complete flock. So my guess is that we actually saw closer to 1000 Snow Geese.

Is their flight related to the upcoming storm? It's hard to say but it's a noticeable coincidence.

Merlin at Houston Meadows. Photo by Ken Januski.

Male Pileated Woodpecker at Houston Meadows. Photo by Ken Januski.

As I walked through Morris today I saw spots where I expect to see warblers and other spring migrants and breeders. That got me started thinking about spring. I do love the birds of spring. But I've also come to love the birds of winter, like Snow Geese, and Merlin, pictured above. Pileated Woodpeckers are here all year but they're often easier to see in winter. I like the photo above because it shows (though you may need to magnify it) the red on sides of the cheek of the male woodpecker.

Northern Pintail. American Black Duck and American Wigeon in Swan Pond at Morris Arboretum. Photo by Ken Januski.

Immature Red-shouldered Hawk at Houston Meadows. Photo by  Ken Januski.

Other birds more commonly seen in winter include ducks like the surprising Northern Pintail and American Wigeon joining the slightly less surprising American Black Duck and quite predictable Mallards in the Swan Pond at Morris today. Below them one of two beautiful Red-shouldered Hawks seen at Houston Meadows earlier in the week.

With such birds around right now it's hard to be anxious for spring and its birds to get here. Though I may have second thoughts depending on how large our next snow fall is.

Amidst all this winter birding I have continued work on my new reduction woodcut. Above is the first color printed on Rives Heavyweight paper. I still have 2-3 more colors to print. I had thought I could get by with just two, but I think I need to add another brown for the gold finch, and then a blue and a black. If I'm snowed in for the next few days I may make good progress, a term I confess I've never understood. What other kind of progress is there? Bad progress. Back before the world of business totally destroyed the English language that would have been called regression.

The Best, and Last, of 2014

American Wigeon at Manayunk Canal. Pen and Wash by Ken Januski.

Killdeer at Manayunk Canal. Pen and Wash by Ken Januski.

So let's talk very briefly about the 'last' of the title before we go on to the best. Above are two ballpoint pen and waterbrush sketches of birds seen along the Manayunk Canal in Philadelphia this morning. Unless a rare bird lands in the yard in the next few hours before dark they'll be the last birds of 2014.

I've been busy with bird counts, holiday prints, and the holidays over the last few weeks so I'm making a slow return to art. It began yesterday with sketches from photos, also using a pen and a waterbrush to pick up some of the somewhat water-soluble ink and use it as a wash. Those three drawings are below. A beautifully sunny, though cold, day convinced me I should take a walk along the Manayunk Canal this morning.

It was too cold to sketch and almost too cold to take photos - only the Killdeer convinced me to get out the camera. When I got home I decided to do the pen and wash drawings at the top. This is the time of year when it's generally too cold to work outdoors. So it seems that work from photos often appears in January and February. I think I prefer pen to pencil for this because I have to take more chances with a pen. I can't erase as I can with pencil. So I still learn something as I sketch but the drawings have a bit more freshness to them. In any case below are the other last sketches of 2014, two Carolina Wren sketches and one Cedar Waxwings sketch.

Carolina Wren. Pen and Wash by Ken Januski.

Carolina Wren. Pen and Wash by Ken Januski.

Cedar Waxwing. Pen and Wash by Ken Januski

My primary reason for writing this post though is not the last of 2014. It's the best of 2014. I thought of this as I was listening to some classical music CDs I got for Christmas as well as reading through The Great Fen, published by Langford Press. It was another Christmas present.

Each year for the last few years I've gotten at least one book from Langford Press. As I realized how much I enjoyed this one, and almost all books from them, I realized that they really do deserve a Best of 2014 Prize, even if it's only from me. To me there is no better publisher of books on wildlife art. That's because their subject matter is wildlife and art, not just wildlife without the art, not wildlife with art that mimics photography.

In addition they have published some books in conjunction with Artists for Nature Foundation, a foundation that tries to bring attention to habitat that is especially valuable to wildlife and also under threat, through the medium of art. So as I read this book and others, greatly admiring the art work, I also read about the environmental aspects of the area, including that of people and commerce. I mainly enjoy these books for the art. There's no denying that. But I also find it fascinating to read about the nature of the area and how it relates to man, both in the past and possibly in the future.

I know of no such projects or publishers in the US, though ANF did do a project in Alaska. It would be nice to see many of the US conservation organizations show such interest in art and its possibilities.

The other candidate for Best of 2014 is Robert Greenberg and his music courses for The Great Courses. I first started listening to How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, over a year ago. But the main influence has been this year. In addition to that course I've listened to Thirty Great Orchestral Works, and I'm part way through How to Listen to and Appreciate Opera and The Symphonies of Beethoven. I'm actually shocked at how rewarding these classes have been.

I'd also be a bit shocked if I'd paid full price for them(though it probably would still be worth it. But I've gotten them at a much lower cost through Audible). How do you put a price on something that opens up one of the most valuable things in the world, music, to you? When I first played the first lecture I thought: Uh, oh. A smart ass! Some people may come to the same conclusion, and keep it. But the fact that he jokes a bit more than I'd like proved to be of no importance whatsoever. What was important was that the world of classical music became approachable.

I've always listened to it, but never from the position of knowledge. And I don't believe that you need knowledge to appreciate any of the arts. More often it's the opposite. Art needs to first be appreciated at the gut level. Then you can add knowledge and come to appreciate it more. I shudder at docents and portable media devices in museums. They put a barrier between people and the art rather than make it more accessible.

Because of this I was hesitant about buying this course. But I was completely wrong. It is one of the best purchases I've made in my entire life. It is so nice to have both a historical framework for classical music as well as the barest rudiments of a musical theory framework. They have added immensely to my enjoyment of music.

To me some of the most valuable things in human existence are art, both visual and musical, and the other arts as well, and nature. Both Langford Press and Robert Greenberg and The Teaching Company with its Great Courses do a tremendous job of giving people the gift of art and nature. They are the Best of 2014 and of many other years I'm sure.

Stravinsky - A Rite of Spring

Mergansers and Grebes in the Schuylkill River. Second State of Multi-block Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

Well I missed it! I was too busy out seeing what new birds might have arrived and sketching an American Wigeon that is lingering and then too busy working on the second state of the mergansers and grebes woodcut to listen to Stravinksy's Rite of Spring.

Each year for the past few years WRTI, our local classical and jazz radio station has played it on the first day of spring. I assume that they did so again today. I mention it because each time I hear it I'm reminded of how exciting it is, and yet how old it also is, 101 years to be exact.

I have the same reaction each time I hear it: how can anyone be doing traditional art in the light of music as revolutionary as this?! I know we can't, and shouldn't, all be revolutionaries. But each time I hear it I am forced to question the type of art that I do.

So given the experimental nature of my new print it seemed quite fitting to mention Stravinsky. Though it certainly wasn't planned or intentional this print does to some extent try to answer the question of how to make art, especially wildlife art, in the light of over 100 years of modern art, in the visual arts, music, literature etc.

I planned out what I intended to do today, cut out a little more from the second wood block, and then printed it. I really had no idea what the print would look like when I lifted it up off of the block. No idea at all and only the vaguest notion that I thought it might be exciting.

Well I'm pleased. I did some more cutting and proofing and then finally printed this second color on the good paper. For the first time I'm trying Torinoko paper. So far it's worked fine.

As usual I always discover a few technical problems when I print. I think that's largely because I'm not a full time printmaker. I'm not devoted just to it so I often forget things that I learned about technique. But I'm improving. One thing I've noticed is that I prefer a washier ink when using woodblock. That lets the grain of the wood show a bit more. It ends up giving the image an overall softer quality and that seems fine.

I plan on at least two more colors here: a second color for the water on the block I printed today, and then black on the first block. I'm hoping it will tie everything together. If not I may have to go back into the third block, the one I printed first with the colored geometric shapes. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

For now I can just say that I'm happy with the way that this is going.

Wigeon at the Manayunk Canal

American Wigeon at Manayunk Canal. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski.

This winter has been one of surprising waterfowl. They aren't surprising I imagine to local birders who bird large bodies of water, e.g. the Delaware River. But we don't see too many in the small water areas close to home that we bird.

Just today I read of a possible irruption of Red-necked Grebes in Pennsylvania. Right after we saw one last weekend I noticed that they were being found all over Pennsylvania, sometimes in numbers of 10 or more. But the only reason we saw ours in the Schuylkill River is that we've started to expand our birding territories to include more of the Schuylkill, both on the Philadelphia County side and on the Montgomery County side.

Waterfowl we've seen include Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Red-necked Grebe, Common and Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Greater Scaup, and today an American Wigeon. All but the mergansers are the first we've seen in the northwest section of Philadelphia. Surprisingly we've found three species, American Wigeon, Bufflehead and Common Merganser, in the Manayunk Canal, a small canal that parallels the Schuylkill River. I'm not sure if we're just getting to be better birders or if more likely the cold, snowy winter has brought more waterfowl to the local waterways.

In any case we've enjoyed it. I was hoping to find a Red-necked Grebe in breeding plumage today, as others have found recently, but we couldn't find one in any plumage. But as I looked at some of the local mallards, in fact looked at them is an overstatement, one of them seemed wrong. When I actually focused on it I realized it was a handsome male American Wigeon.

I took a few photos, debated about trying to do some sketches but finally decided not to. The small and quick watercolor sketch in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook is based on one of the photos. Once again though I was reminded of how paralyzing photos can be for an artist. Faced with the detailed beauty of an American Wigeon, and there is no doubt of its beauty, it is hard to know what to do. It's so easy to be seduced into portraying every little charming detail of the feathers. They are hypnotizing.

But in doing so all sense of proportion, of animation, of everything except the surface detail is lost. It's a  price I'm not willing to pay. So this like so much of my work just tries to get a sense of the bird, to portray it's beauty in large strokes, avoiding the siren song of duck detail. It is a quick 30-60 minute study.

It is another unambitious work. I'm spending my time these days mulling which direction to go next. I keep thinking it should be toward greater abstraction. But so far I've been reluctant to take the plunge. In the meantime I keep doing these studies. That will change one of these days, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Day of the Wigeons - Holiday of the Ducks

I looked forward to this long weekend because I hoped to be able to devote a fair amount of time to it to art. After my unsuccessful Northern Shoveler watercolors I decided I needed to spend some time doing detailed sketches of ducks. So yesterday I concentrated on Northern Shovelers. Today it was American Wigeons.

For many ducks can be dull birds. When we were at The Meadows of Cape May in October we ran into someone who was using the trails for bike riding. He had no interest in birds at all. Until we showed him some ducks magnified 30x in my spotting scope. I think he left a believer. Ducks are incredibly beautiful birds, especially in breeding plumage. The one problem for an artist is that the patterns can be so complex that to render them truthfully seems almost impossible. Thus these drawings. My hope is that in doing them enough I'll eventually understand both the structure of ducks, especially in regard to feather tracts, and find a shorthand for their complex patterns.

Today's works like yesterday's are all based on photos that I took. With such beautiful birds it's been a pleasure to work on them. At some time, probably weeks away, I'll try to do some more developed works using ducks as subject matter.