Reduction Woodcut, Recalcitrant Snipe, Leftovers, Trump's Greatest Sin

Killdeer and Great Blue Heron. Partially completed reduction woodcut by Ken Januski.

I guess one of the benefits of writing posts so infrequently these days is that I can ramble all over the place in terms of subjects covered. Thus the title.

My most recent artwork is the reduction woodcut above, based on one of numerous sightings of Killdeer and Great Blue Heron in the Manayunk Canal over the last few winters. I'm moving along more speedily than normal on this one, spending less time in endless deliberation about what to do next. I think one or at most two colors are still left and I plan that they will just be in a few small areas.



Wilson's Snipe and Greater Yellowlegs at Ottawa NWR. Watercolor by Ken Januski.

I say 'recalcitrant' snipe in the title because I keep going back to these snipe seen at Ottawa NWR a number of years ago in the hopes of getting a painting, print, drawing I'm happy with. Above is the newest effort, I think 11x17 or something like that. It's the biggest watercolor I've done in a while.

Wilson's Snipe and Greater Yellowlegs at Ottawa NWR. Acrylic Painting by Ken Januski.

Next is an acrylic painting, actually smaller than the watercolor, that I painted then repainted a number of years ago. It seems like such a great subject and yet I'm not completely happy with any of my attempts. I've also done numerous pen and ink and watercolor studies along the way. So we shall see. Sometimes it almost seems like you need to exorcise a subject. I do think eventually that I'll get a good print out of this subject.

Chipping Sparrow in Pines. Brush Painting by Ken Januski.

When I print I always tear large sheets of printmaking paper to size. And always there are small leftover strips of good paper. I've never known what to do with them so they just accumulate. Recently I ordered a new Chinese brush, ink stick and grinding stone from Oriental Art Supply. I realized that this leftover paper might be just the ticket for experimenting with the new brush and ink. So after about 5-6 horrible failures I ended up with this passable brush painting of a Chipping Sparrow in a pine tree. One reason I wanted a better quality ink stick was so that I could get richer blacks. As you can see there are at least one or two here.

'Tula' salvia in backyard. Photo by Ken Januski.

I haven't written anything on Trump and the election so far. I'm not completely shocked by the results. The white working class has been effectively abandoned by Democrats for years. There's also a sense of moral superiority in many Democrats that I think fuels a resentment of them, a resentment Trump was all too happy to take advantage of. But what of Trump? To a certain extent I agree with both Obama and Clinton in the idea of at least giving him a chance.

But for all of his faults, and everyone except the blind know that they are legion, there is one that I think will do more harm than anything else: his lack of civility, respect for others, and respect for truth, all willingly jettisoned by him. As he said to the Wall Street Journal when questioned about whether he'd gone too far in some of his statements he said: "No, I won!"

Most Americans know that the presidency is more than just a matter of winning. It's not a football game, or a backstreet brawl, though I suppose it has been in the distant past. But in an age where there is already far too much ranting, too much eager willingness to  not even consider the other side, Trump sets the worst possible precedent. Anything and everything is legitimate as long as you win. History will decide I fear that this is his very worst legacy.

I should add, as others have, that he might actually be successful. History never unfolds as predicted. But I'll still never forgive him for his utter degradation of the process.

And, to end on a happier note, the last photo  is of 'Tula' Mexican Sage, almost always the last flower blooming in our garden, even in December. We buy this plant at about 12 inches tall every few years, then watch it grow and grow until November without flowering. And then finally in a race against a hard frost it starts to bloom. Each day we wonder: will it be the last? Not so far.

Marinating Snipe -- Black Vulture in Tuliptree

Wilson's Snipe at Ottawa NWR. In-progress Acylic Painting by Ken Januski.

Perhaps marinating isn't the best word. Unlike food this painting will not get more flavorful by just sitting there. My intent is to indicate that I'm not doing much with it right now. It is just sitting there.

Actually I've done a lot of painting on it since last post but it really doesn't look that much different. At this point I think I just need to set it aside, i.e. let it marinate, and see if I eventually can figure out what needs to be done to finish it.

I am largely happy with it right now both in terms of art and in terms of what you see when birding. I like the composition, colors, etc. I also like the fact that it may take awhile to see all of the birds including the more distant Lesser Yellowlegs. That's just the way you see, or don't see, birds.

Black Vulture in Tuliptree at Schuykill Center for Environmental Education.

Today was scheduled to be the annual Philadelphia Mid-winter Bird Census. But predictions of all day rain forced a rescheduling until tomorrow. In preparation for it I did some scouting earlier this week at the Manayunk Canal and Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.

Black Vultures have become somewhat common recently in SE Pennsylvania, even in winter. But I normally see them in flight, lazily gliding. Yesterday four of them  landed right above me in a Tulptree at the Schuylkill Center. I got a kick out of the juxtaposition of these large black birds with the delicate seedheads of the Tuliptree. Thus this photo. Eventually the subject may make its way into a painting or print.

Wilson's Snipe Continued

Wilson's Snipe at Ottawa NWR. Second State of Acrylic Painting by Ken Januski.

When I remember the scene of these Wilson's Snipe at Ottawa NWR I recollect how my hands were so cold I had a very time doing field sketches. Even keeping the binoculars or spotting scope on them was a chilly experience.

But the temperature was probably above 50. Today we finally hit a high of 10. But with the windchill I doubt it feels like it's above zero. Good weather to stay inside and continue this small 9x12 inch acrylic painting. Though I've labeled this the second state I've worked on it three or four times since the first posting.

It's getting better but since I don't really know what I expect it's hard to say how close it is to being done. I was reading another book on Delacroix today, Delacroix: The Late Work , a catalog from a show a number of years ago at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Sadly I didn't see it.


I mention it though for this quote from Delacroix's Journals:

It is really not until Rembrandt that you see the beginning of that harmony between the details and the principal subject which I consider to be one of the most important, if not the most important element in a picture.

 I have to say that rings true to me. And it may be a legitimate goal for this painting. I do know that describes pretty well the picture so far. Adding detail, removing it, etc., etc.

Wilson's Snipe Acrylic Painting

Wilson's Snipe at Ottawa NWR. Initial Stage of Acrylic Painting by Ken Januski.

This is the very first state of a 9x12 inch painting of some Wilson's Snipe, and one further Lesser Yellowlegs. They were seen at Ottawa NWR in late September, right before it closed due to the government shutdown.

As you can tell it's rough. But I think it will stay that way. I like to understand birds, to know their structure, their markings, their movements. But at least with me trying to capture that leads to a dead painting. So as more or less a 2014 New Year's resolution I'm going to try to stay away from detail this year, more than I normally do that is.

One thing about snipe, particularly if you try to draw them in the field without aid of photos, is the striking pattern on their back. It's almost more striking than their long bill. So I'm hoping that this pattern will stand out here and be enough to ID them. I hope it will also be a focus or foci of the painting.

I've been listening to a Great Courses course on music recently as well as reading my ancient Introduction to Music textbook. More than ever they convince me that painting is primarily abstract, like music. And though it can often have a subject it will end up quite dull if it's limited by that.

Enthusiasm and Example in Art

Wilson's Snipe at Ottawa NWR. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski.

Wilson's Snipe. Ballpoint Pen Sketches by Ken Januski.

As much as I liked the quote from Delacroix in a recent post about the difficulty of finishing a painting there was something that bothered me. I didn't know the context. It was just an out of context quote. Because of that it was possible that I was reading into it a meaning that wasn't there about the complexity of painting.

Because of that I managed to pick up a copy of The Journals of Delacroix and have started reading them. How exciting they are. The early ones are as much about his love interests as his art but most of them were written when he was 50 and older and seem, from what I've read so far, to be more about his art.

What I've enjoyed so much about them is that they show a serious artist thinking about art. More important is that he is an accomplished and practicing artist, not an artistic dilettante lost in the ether of aesthetic theory. In another field, for instance politics, this would be called inside baseball, something of interest to practitioners and aficionados but not to anyone else.

The thing is it's very rare to find people who talk about their craft, who have a passion for it and can't keep from talking about it, theorizing about it. In some ways it's not even important what they say. From what I can tell so far Delacroix often contradicts himself. What is important, at least to me, is to run into someone who is passionate about art.

That thought in turn got me thinking about the times I've been most passionate about art, and enjoyed it the most. The first time was as a student at the University of California at Berkeley. Part of it was the classes both in studio art and art history. But more important was a small group of passionate fellow students. We, or at least I, thrived on working, seeing their work, talking about it, going to galleries, etc.

There is much to criticize about art education and my guess is that I'd be quite unhappy today. From what I can tell theory has come to rule over everything else. Some people wonder whether it makes sense to even go to art school. The one reason I'd advise doing so is the possibility of meeting people who are passionate about art, especially your peers.

The other instance of great enthusiasm for me occurred a number of years ago with the Wildlife Art thread of birdforum.net. There was an excitement and shared enthusiasm that it was a great thrill to be part of, especially coming from total artistic isolation as I felt I was. There is no longer any activity there. But at the time it was wonderful.

You can look at books, go to galleries, etc. But I think that there is nothing that is better for artists than to be part of a group of people who share your enthusiasm about art. Eventually everyone has to go their own way. It happens with all artists. But I do think that anyone who's been part of such an enthusiastic group is lucky. It gives you the impetus to keep on when times are difficult.

So that is part of what Delacroix reminds me of: enthusiasm in the arts.

I was also enthusiastic about the arts from a child, though oddly enough it was mainly for abstract art. When I got to Chicago for college I spent hours upon hours at the Art Institute of Chicago admiring and enjoying the art. But I was majoring in English. The college I attended didn't offer any art courses. Art was not a viable occupation in my mind, neither in high school nor in college. The occupation and career of artist was something of the historical past not of the present or future.

For that you need acquaintance with practicing artists, i.e. adults who made art. That's what I discovered when I moved to the San Francisco Bay area, and especially when I started studying with famous artists at Berkeley. Their fame was not all that important though. What was important was that they were practicing artists. They made art!

This is the example that I refer to in the title. I do think that it must be very difficult to be an artist without the experience of both example and enthusiasm. I didn't have them early in my life but I am thankful that I eventually did. Reading Delacroix reminds me of just how exciting it can be to be an artist.

Apropos of nothing in this post are the two photos at top. Both are based on numerous photos I took of Wilson's Snipe at Ottawa NWR from this October. We rarely get a good look at snipe to this was a great thrill. We saw them in the same place for two or three days.

Because I don't know them that well I did the ballpoint pen sketches from photos, hoping that I might gain some familiarity with their form and markings. The watercolor sketch is an attempt to place them in their environment. Eventually I'd like to do either an acrylic painting or a woodcut/linocut.

Snipe, Blackpolls, Dogwoods, Moorhens, Autumn Meadowhawks

Wilson's Snipe and Belted Kingfisher. Field Sketches by Ken Januski.

During the last week or so we've encountered herbicide spraying in a state park, deer archery hunting in a state park, unknown spraying and government shutdown affecting a National Wildlife Refuge we visited, even the transmogrification of the road leading to the NWR into a one-way road whose direction changed every few minutes due to road construction. I've never thought about having to worry about leaving an NWR and wondering if I was about to drive the wrong way into head-on traffic.

But this is what we remember from the week: Wilson's Snipe that seemed to forget anyone was near; ubiquitous, and that's an understatement, Blackpoll Warblers; almost as ubiquitous Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies; large groupings of Common Moorhens; the only good look I've ever had at a Philadelphia Vireo;  Northern Swamp Dogwoods filled with warblers predictably at about 5 p.m., and strikingly beautiful on their own, with or without migrating birds; American Copper and Variegated Fritillary butterflies.

Though we enjoy spring birding which is accompanied by all the signs of spring there's surely something to be said for autumn birding when vegetation seems to have one last burst of color before winter. That color accentuates the subtle beauty of migrants like the Blackpoll Warbler. Together they make a visual feast.

The high point of the trip though I think had to be the Wilson's Snipe that we saw each of three days on the auto tour at Ottawa NWR near Toledo, OH. We always love to see snipe but rarely do. Most often is just a squawk and the sight of a vanishing shorebird that might or might not have been a Wilson's Snipe. Over three days in more or less the same location they seemed oblivious to humans and everything else. I took the opportunity to do the field sketches above. They're quick and nowhere near as developed as I'd like but they do capture their essence I think. It's had to notice much other than their long bill and striped back without really concentrating, something that's there's rarely time to do.

After doing a sketch I'd turn to photos hoping to get more detail from them and use the two for more developed work. But in most cases they were too far away to get as much detail as I would have liked in the photos. After I'd looked at them for awhile I decided to risk scaring them off by walking closer for a better look and photo. That's what happened below. Then I walked even closer and off this one went.

Wilson's Snipe at Ottawa NWR. Photo by Ken Januski.

Over a number of days we saw numerous warblers in a plant we later identified as a Northern Swamp Dogwood next to the nature center at Maumee Bay State Park, near Ottawa NWR. We were nearly knocked over by the warblers flying in and out of them. They're truly a beautiful shrub that are made even more so by their attractiveness to birds. We really didn't know all Blackpolls before we arrived in Ohio. We'd seen them occasionally but not often. Last week they were everywhere and they might have become our favorite bird, well at least MY favorite bird, next to the Wilson's Snipe. Below is one of many photos I took of them. I didn't try sketching them but almost think I could draw them from a mental image if I tried.

Blackpoll Warbler in Northern Swamp Dogwood at Maumee Bay State Park. Photo by Ken Januski

The last Philadelphia I thought I saw was also in this area, two years ago in the spring on the boardwalks of Magee Marsh/Crane Creek. But I just wasn't as certain as I would have liked. So I did a lot of studying of how they differed from Warbling Vireos. When this one popped up into a dead tree next to some of the Northern Swamp Dogwoods I had no doubt what it was. I just wish he'd stuck around for Jerene to see and me to sketch. His photo is below

Philadelphia Vireo at Maumee Bay State Park. Photo by Ken Januski

I do wish I had more sketches to show. And I'm severely limiting the photos I show. There should be a Cape May Warbler here, and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and one of many Common Moorhens, and Autumn Meadowhawk and Variegated Fritillary. But I'm just going to include this one last photo, of a bird we rarely get a good look at except in Illinois is fall.

Below is a Tennessee Warbler, with its extraordinarily short tail, perched in a shrub that, now that I look at it looks surprisingly like the Northern Swamp Dogwood. This picture was taken at Kickapoo State Park in central Illinois.

Tennessee Warbler at Kickapoo State Park. Photo by Ken Januski.

With sights like these who could be bothered by government shutdowns and closed parks everywhere we turned? Every obstacle took us to an alternate location that dished up something special.

Biggest Week in American Birding

It advertised itself as 'The Biggest Week in American Birding.' Being a bit of a skeptic I would normally take such a phrase with a huge grain of salt. But we've birded the area around Magee Marsh and Ottawa NWR in NW Ohio numerous times in the fall and have seen a lot of birds. And we've both heard and read that it is far, far better birding in the spring, in particular for warblers.

So this year we planned our vacation to put us there for most of the first two weeks of May. Since this time coincided with The Biggest Week in American Birding we registered for it and a number of talks and trips, all for a very low price.

I really want to showcase the field sketches that I did there but I also want to commend everyone who was involved in planning the week. Much of the success of our trip was of course the birds. But for anyone like us, who signed up for various walks and talks, mainly by Kenn Kaufman, I also want to give credit to the humans involved. They did a wonderful job. I'm sure it was an exhausting 10-11 days for everyone at Ottawa NWR, Magee Marsh, Black Swamp Bird Observatory and all the others involved. For us it was a resounding success and we'd like to commend all of their work in making the human side of it run so smoothly.

Anyone who follows this blog knows that both I and my wife love warblers and that I hoped this year I'd finally get some good field sketches of them. I'd guess we saw about 500 warblers during our time there, many within 6-12 feet. Though the boardwalk at Magee Marsh got incredibly crowded at times it still was an extraordinary chance to see and sketch warblers.

When there is such a wealth of subject matter close by it's sometimes tempting to just take photos. And I took about 350. Or at least I kept that many. But on numerous days I forced myself to just look and sketch and not get out the camera.

So without further ado. Most of these are done from looking at the bird, trying to get a mental image, and then putting it to paper. Inevitably I make mistakes in working this way. But I am improving.

At top a Prothonotary and a Magnolia warbler. Face on Magnolia needs some work.

Below a Nashville warbler seen from below, at least 50 feet up in the trees, as well as a Black-throated Green warbler.

Below a Blue-headed Vireo, Bay-breasted Warbler and Semipalmated Plover.

Below another Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided and what I think was a Philadelphia Vireo. I used the sketch to help figure out what it was, basically a Warbling Vireo with an eye that seemed too big.

And finishing off today's sketches an American Woodcock and a Least Flycatcher below.

This includes about half of my sketches. Soon the other half. I've written in the past about how fieldsketching has been a struggle for me and how I've finally gotten comfortable with it. That really proved true here. There are numerous mistakes in these sketches. But there also is a wealth of material for future prints and paintings.