Eastern Towhee Continued

Eastern Towhee at Houston Meadows. In-process Acrylic Painting by Ken Januski.

We were birding at Fort Washington State Park - Militia Hill today, killing time while waiting for our cat to finish at the vet. At one point a thoroughly recognizable shape hopped out into the path. It was an Eastern Towhee. I think because I've been spending so much time painting it the shape was instantly recognizable. We've actually been surprised at how often they can be found at this location in late fall and winter.

The high point though was a handsome Purple Finch, either female or first year just a few feet away from us. We rarely see them in this area of Pennsylvania so it was a pleasant surprise, especially as the predictions are for no irruption of northern finches into areas south this year.

When we got home, cat safely in tow, I decided to grab just a little time to continue work on this painting. There's still a lot of work to do, especially in incorporating its surroundings. But I am happy with its progress.

Carpe Minutiae!?

Father Bede, my cantankerous and very strict Latin teacher from many, many years ago, would be looking disapprovingly at this title I'm sure. But it's been a long time so I've just made a wild guess as to how to modify Carpe Diem(Seize the Day) to Seize the Minutes.

I had to make an early morning delivery to our vets and wanted to try a bit more field sketching on the way home before leaving for work. So I seized 45 minutes at a new location: Militia Hill Hawk Watch at Fort Washington State Park. I figured there wouldn't be any hawks in flight but thought the feeders might be busy. And they were.

So this sketch is my second attempt at using watercolors in the field. The colors are too strong and straight from the pan. I used the tiny brush that comes with my field box and at times it's just too small. But the drawings helped to get me more comfortable with watercolor field sketches. And I couldn't resist the acrobatics of the American Goldfinch. The other birds are a Downy Woodpecker and Mourning Dove.