Incisive Sketches

'Incisive' is often used to describe a person's mental abilities I think. It indicates sharpness, an ability to see the important things through all the unimportant when viewing a problem. I'm not claiming that for me or my drawings, at least not for me in particular.

Actually it's almost the opposite. Almost all drawings are incisive. For me one of the most useful aspects of drawing is its ability to be incisive, to seek out the structure underneath the fluff and glitz. Not all drawing by  every person does this. But most do. It seems to be almost a primordial part of Western drawing if not all drawing.

I've  written about this before but it always strikes me afresh. There's something almost analytical and surgical about sketching. You try to see underneath the murk to the real thing.

I don't mean this in a mystical way, bur instead in a scientific way. I particularly mention  it with these drawings because they're all done from photos I've taken. What I always find with photos is that I need to see beneath the surface of masses color or tone and figure out how the underlying object is put together. With birds it's a question of what those feasthers are on the back and how do they relate to the wing feathers. Where do the legs go into the torso and how is the bird balanced on them.

For me, especially when working from photos like this, I feel like the pen or pencil I hold in my hand is like a scalpel trying to figure out the three-dimensional structure of what photography has turned into a flat two-dimentions. I'll in turn return it to the two dimenions of the paper on which I draw. But as I do so I  want it to be informed by my understanding of its three dimensions.

The drawing above is a pencil drawing on Stillman and Birn Gamma series sketchbook, size 7x10 inches. I haven't used these sketchbooks in awhile but they've always worked well for pencil sketches like this, among other  things.

Above is another sketch of the same Great Black-backed Gull seen near Flat Rock Dam on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia a few days after Hurricane Sandy. I was there looking for any birds displaced to our area by the hurricane.Though I didn't really  find any I always enjoy seeing some of our more common birds, including Great Black-backed Gulls.

When I do drawings such as this I never intend them as finished works. Instead I do them with the intention of learning something. I hope that when I'm done I'll have a better idea of the structure of  the bird drawn. That knowledge in turn will be put to use in some drawing, painting or print in the future.

These two drawings were started while I gallery  sat for 3 hours this morning at the 'Wild at Art' show I'm in at the Manayunk Roxborough Art Center. And there were no visitors! Come on local readers, assuming there are some, I/we need some visitors and some sales! Still it was time well used. But it would be nice to see more visitors to the gallery  both for the current show and all shows. It's open 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Yesterday I tried another drawing from a photo, this one a smaller ballpoint pen drawing of two Cedar Waxwings on Stillman and Birn Beta Series paper. The birds themselves are somewhat successful though both show I think that I couldn't fully understand their structure from looking at the photo I used as my source. Worse I really was not successful rendering the bark of the tree in which they perched. Still I learned something in doing so.

I very rarely do a finished painting or print directly  from a photo I've taken and never from someone else's photo. But these sort of sketches seem to exorcise the photos in some way so that I later feel more comfortable using the drawings as the start of a painting or print. I know it seems odd. But it's true nonetheless. I think one reason is that the sketches make me feel a little clearer about the structure of whatever I'm painting. They're also like a warmup  exercise, like playing scales. All part of the process of making a work of art.

Sweating Through Exhibition Prep

We're at the start of an Excessive Heat Warning here. It goes through the next 40+ hours and won't be exactly cool when it ends. This seems appropriate since the Manayunk Arts Festival starts this weekend. I don't plan things this way but as I think back about the various shows I've been in I often picture myself sweating like crazy, working in incredibly hot weather, trying to ready a show.
Fortunately I'm a bit more prepared for this show and had some advance warning about the heat. So I have most of my work ready to go. Above you see some of the framed work, including two gull watercolors from 2012. That Great Black-backed Gull at Flatrock Dam looks refreshingly cool doesn't he. If I were a marketer I might hope that it might be a subliminal message to viewers this weekend to buy it and instantly feel cooler.

Above you see a stack of seven framed watercolors and linocuts. On top of them are about 15 linocuts, that are in mats but not framed. They'll all go the the Manayunk Roxborough Art Center. Eventually some/most/all of them will be transported along with other work from members, especially five exhibiting artists, of the MRAC coop to the arts festival. There they will be part of the Emerging Artists Showcase at Main and Roxborough.
The festival itself of course wants to showcase the Manayunk area, though artists and crafters from across the US will exhibit. The Emerging Artists Showcase features local artists. Since I live less than a mile from where I'll be exhibiting I guess I qualify as local. You can't get too much more local than that. But it also will showcase the Mayanunk Roxborough Art Center mentioned above. Like many places, especially non-profits, the economic downturn has hurt in may ways: fewer grants, fewer purchases of art, part of whose profits go to the center, etc. MRAC was once a thriving part of Manayunk and Roxborough. The exposure gained at the arts festival will hopefully help to return it to that thriving state Along with art shows it offers many classes as well as literary programs. See the site for more info, or stop by the festival this weekend.

The Gulls of Flat Rock Dam

Ever since I saw the Great Black-backed Gull at Flat Rock Dam about a month ago I've wanted to do paintings of the scene, as much for the powerful water as for the bird. But I've never painted water before. So I made the first attempt about a month ago. This is the second. It is 9x12 inches on Arches cold press 300# paper.

This is most likely a second cycle Great Black-backed so it is more brown than the beautiful deep slate gray of the mature gull. Not that you can see all that much detail here but nonetheless I wanted to be true to what I saw.

One reason I chose to do this now is that I'll most likely contribute it to the Manayunk Roxborough Art Center and Roxborough Development Corporation for their silent auction fundraiser in early May. I suspect that art with some local connection and not as much a focus on birds as is usual for me will be more likely to sell. Since I'm completely intrigued by the scene anyway it seemed like a good subject to use for the fundraiser. If I had time I'd also do it in acrylic but I think that may have to wait until the spring migration is over.

Delayed by a Gull

I've done a fair amount of work on the linocut of the Downy Woodpecker and Canada Goose since I showed the earlier states here. But the late April/early May weather here has made it hard to stay inside and work in the studio.

Today we were near Flatrock Dam along the Manayunk Canal in the morning. In the roiling waters perched on a huge slab of stone stood a gull I didn't recognize. That doesn't say much since I just don't know gulls. Often I see a mature Great Black-backed Gull there. But this bird looked more slender, though possibly as large, and definitely didn't have the rich charcoal gray of the mature Great Black-backed.

I tried a couple of field sketches, in lower right corner above, but they don't show much. One thing that struck me was the long and seemingly slender neck. He also looked pear-shaped from the front. That's what these two sketches tried to capture.

I also took some photos. And though the gull was quite distant I was able to do some sketches based on them. Drawing them helps me often to see things I wasn't sure of when I saw the bird live, like just how big the bill is.

Seeing the bird live I noticed most his slenderness, at least around the neck. That made me think it wasn't a Great Black-backed. But birds can often look more slender than normal when they stretch our their neck. As I drew the huge bill I came to the conclusion that it was a Great Black-backed, in spite of the seeming slenderness.

I also was quite taken by the roaring and roiling water around him. I've never tried to paint such a scene but today I just had to. One of my friends has spent a lot of time recently painting seascapes. She knows how complicated they are, how important it is to begin to understand water. I don't. But I still felt like I just had to give it a try.

Above is the latest stage of the lino. I haven't touched it in a couple of days. If we ever get some bad weather I'll get back to it. I am happy with it and would like to print an edition. But this good weather can be very distracting.

Great Backyard Bird Count Field Sketches

I managed to get out for a couple of hours yesterday for GBBC and then today we were out for about three hours at two locations. We didn't find any rarities though the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker from today was bird number 50 for the year and our first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker of 2012. We may also have seen our first American Black Ducks of the year. But I can't say for sure. I'm just not that familiar with them. I include a couple of photos at bottom.

As I've mentioned there's always a decision to be made if I see a bird and have both sketchbook and camera. Which shall I use? I don't have any good photos of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers though I do have numerous bad ones. Today's was particularly close to us just off the pedestrian bridge at the Flourtown Day Use Area of Fort Washington State Park near Philadelphia. But I stuck to my guns and spent my brief time trying to sketch it. If I'd had my camera unpacked from its carrying back and ready to shoot I might have tried it. But I'm glad I didn't. I always learn more from sketching.

In this case one of the things I learned is that the bill is longer than I'd ever noticed, though a bit shorter than in my sketch. I also noticed the black line coming off the bill and onto the face. Unfortunately I didn't notice how it makes a turn and goes back into the throat, nor that the black line through the eye is at a 45 degree angle to the forehead not perpendicular. These are the types of things that I generally learn when I field sketch. I put down what I recall seeing and then later compare it to reference photos and field guides.

It's much easier to do this if I have a scope and can keep a constant eye on the bird while I sketch. I don't need one hand holding up the scope. But with binoculars I need to hold them up to my eyes with two hands, try to get a detail or impression, then put them back down and use my hands to hold sketchbook and pen or pencil. It's this back and forth that leads to errors.

The other option is to just keep your eye on the bird, even with binoculars and only try to sketch if after it's left. That's what I did with the Mallard in flight and the Northern Mockingbird above. It's also a useful method and sometimes works out well. With it also I later go back and compare what I've put down to photos and guidebooks.

The Sapsucker, Mockingbird and Mallard are all from today. Yesterday I saw a Great Blue Heron and my first Great Black-backed Gull of 2012 at the Manayunk Canal. Both stayed put for quite a while though the heron longer than the gull. I was able to spend at least 10 minutes on the heron. I've done so many of them now that I'm starting to get comfortable. Gulls are another story. Even though some of them, like Ring-billed, are common they're never common where I bird. So I don't have much practice with them. Sadly that shows in this sketch of the Great Black-backed Gull.

But any mistakes are active mistakes, done when I'm actively engaged with looking at the bird. They are far more educational than those made while using a photo.

In any case I always enjoy taking part in the Great Backyard Bird Count. This year I've enjoyed it even more by also doing field sketches. One more day left tomorrow so we'll see what that brings.

Above the ducks that MIGHT be American Black Ducks. This was an instance where it seemed worthwhile to unpack the camera and take a couple of shots.