A Pileated Moku Hanga

Pileated Woodpecker at Flat Rock Dam moku hanga. Copyright 2023 by Ken Januski.

Soon after I finished my last moku hanga, at the end of January, 2023 I believe, I started thinking about a new print. Since nothing sprang to mind I started going through all of my old sketchbooks and came up with six to eight images that I thought had possibilities. Often they were based on something I'd seen while out birding. And before you knew it I went out birding and found something new that might work as the idea for a new print.

Pencil compositional sketch of Pleated, Buffleheads, Common Merganser and Flat Rock Dam. Copyright 2023 by Ken Januski.

What I first saw were two Bufflehead and one male Common Merganser just above Flat Rock Dam on the Schuylkill River near where I live in Philadelphia. As I looked at them in the distance though I heard a Pileated Woodpecker calling behind me. I didn't look for it though, instead concentrating the waterfowl. My guess is that I was trying to see them well enough to get a mental image that I could then use as a subject for.a memory sketch/field sketch. I don't seem to have any so my guess is that they were just too far away and instead I concentrated on taking photos, even though neither are rare birds.

Finally they flew off and so I turned around to look for the Pileated, which was no longer calling and which I assume had flown off. But no, there he was at the top of a distant snag. Of course once I saw him he flew off. He was not the first I've seen along the Schuylkill. BUT they are the first I've seen there  in over 25 years! A few weeks earlier I'd seen one flying over the Schuylkill, hugging the shore as he flew. It was just such an odd sight. I'm much more used to seeing them deep in forests! 

Pencil studies of Pileateds from my photos. Copyright 2023 by Ken Januski.

Pencil studies of Pileateds from my photos. Copyright 2023 by Ken Januski.

Pencil studies of Pileateds from my photos. Copyright 2023 by Ken Januski.

Pencil compositional sketch of Pleated, Buffleheads, Common Merganser and Flat Rock Dam. Copyright 2023 by Ken Januski.

In any case I started toying with idea of using the waterfowl and Pileated as the subject of my next print.  Though I know Pileateds well I know them to ID, not to draw. Drawing or painting them, even when highly abstracted, requires more complete knowledge. So I did a number of studies from my photos which are above.

I also kept working on a sketch of the entire print. One of the main decisions I made was to make the entire picture one seen from behind the Pileated, looking down on the Pileated, the Schuylkill and the waterfowl in it

Digital compositional and color study using Procreate on iPad. Copyright 2023 by Ken Januski.

Recently I've found myself developing compositional studies on my iPad using Procreate. A stylus is incredibly limited compared to a pen or pencil or paint brush. But used in conjunction with Procreate it is an incredibly quick way of sorting through, and modifying, different ideas for a print or painting. I"m sure it is limiting in ways I don't know about, leading me to make decisions based on the medium itself rather than the idea I would have without these digital tools. But right now I'm not worried about it.

Once I started the print, and the eight wood blocks I used to create it I didn't look back at the digital version. At that point the medium in front of me took over: watercolor, or watered down gouache and Japanese printmaking paper, washi. It is such a beautiful medium that only a masochist would ignore it and let the digital version be his guiding light as to where to take the print.

All 24 prints of the Pileated at Flat Rock Dam moku hanga. Copyright 2023 by Ken Januski

I have to say it is still bizarre to think of myself as a printmaker and to think in terms of editions. I've always been a one-off painter. You only make one of a thing. All the effort goes into the final product. You don't spend anytime thinking about what you need to do to be able to reproduce an identical image more than once. It has driven me nuts. Until I sell a print made 5-10 years ago. At that point I'm glad I've taken the time and made the effort to print an edition.  And for those who don't know there is no printing press involved. I am the printing press, along with my baren. My guess is that it is far easier to make identical prints, without blemishes and mistakes, using a printing press  than it is the way I do it with a hand held baren. And I have ruined many, many, many prints by some errant sloppiness or lack of focus that can occur when doing all printing by hand, with no mechanical help.

That is why I now tend to show photos of the entire printed edition. It was so much work and it is such an accomplishment!! It also helps explain why moku hanga often is, and always should be, more expensive. There is just so much more work involved and so much greater risk of failure.

My old oil-based reduction linocuts and woodcuts were also full of risk and they were also printed by hand. I've never owned a press. But one of the additional appeals of moku hanga is that it seems to encourage a slower, less frantic pace, regardless. of complexity and possibility of failure. It seems to encourage a more human pace of production that does reduction printmaking. I'm starting to be experienced enough with it to be able to proceed at a saner and more human pace. Perhaps with time this would have also happened if I'd continued with reduction prints using traditional methods. But I doubt it would have ever gotten to the point I have with moku hanga.

A somewhat calm printmaker: something I never at all envisioned or desired and yet here I am, and very content with it.

The new print will be for sale in my Etsy store sometime about mid-May.

 

More Brush Paintings and Philadelphia Mid-winter Bird Census

Common Mergansers on Schuylkill River. Chinese Brush Painting by Ken Januski.

Pileated Woodpecker and Northern Flicker Eating Poison Ivy Berries. Sumi Brush Pen Sketch by Ken Januski.

Last Saturday was the annual Philadelphia Mid-winter Bird Census and we took part once again. Unseasonably warm weather, and a totally overcast day, made for an odd count. Outside of seeing and hearing a Common Raven flying over the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education we didn't see much unusual and to some extent we didn't even see the usual.

But we did see our first Common Mergansers of the year, pictured above riding the waves of the Schuylkill River. We also saw four species of woodpecker eating poison ivy berries from the same tree, around which the poison ivy had wound itself.

I'm still stuck on Chinese brush painting, not a bad thing to get stuck on, but something that I don't want to make a lifelong detour from my other work. But for now my idiosyncratic, and some might just say bad, combination of western style and Chinese brush painting style seems a useful and informative way to make pictures. My hope is that eventually what I've learned from brush painting will manifest itself both in my prints and in my watercolors. And hopefully I'll get better at it in itself, though given that you could spend your life studying it I don't have high expectations.

The mergansers are painted with ink made from an ink stick and water, which allows me a variation of blacks and grays. I used a small Chinese calligraphy brush and a larger sumi brush for it. The Pileated Woodpecker and Northern Flicker was painted with a Kuretake Sumi Brush Pen. The virtue of it is that the ink is carried in a reservoir, like a fountain pen, but it cannot easily create more than one color, a deep black.

Completed Reduction Woodcut, Awakened Sketchbook

Moleskine Sketchbook with Woodpecker Field Sketches and Carving Tools in Studio. Photo by Ken Januski.

As I was winding up the reduction woodcut I've been working on I kept noticing my poor neglected sketchbook off to the left of my cutting area. Though I take it out with me when I'm out birding I just can't convince myself to take it out and sketch in winter. The top sketch in photo above of a Hairy Woodpecker, conveniently outside my warm studio window is from December 28th. The page to the left has an Osprey from late November.

Today was particularly cold due to the wind so even though we watched a handsome male Pileated Woodpecker for at least 15 minutes I didn't sketch. But when I got home the guilt was just too strong. I HAD to resume sketching. So the photo at the bottom is the male Pileated from memory. It's not much but at least I'm reviving the habit.

Back when I was reading a lot about Winslow Homer, one of my favorite watercolorists, I read how he worked in his studio in Maine during the winter on his oil paintings. Everything in its place more or less with watercolors in the field in warmer weather and oils in the studio in winter.

So it's really not surprising that I should do more prints in winter, and more sketches from photos. But still it's nice to work from life, or at least from memories from life.

American Goldfinch, Great Blue Heron and Killdeer Along Snowy Banks of Manayunk Canal. Final Edition of Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

Another reason I felt like sketching, and birding, is that I've finally finished the reduction woodcut! And I'm happy with it. The final version is above. I'm still not sure how many of the prints will go into the edition. I started off with 16 but there are a lot more prints will small smudges than I'd like. So I still have to figure out which ones will be in the edition. The more the better though, because I really like this print!

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.

Phoebe, Pileateds, Buffleheads Star in Count

Eastern Phoebe at Gorgas Run in Wissahickon Park.

Yesterday was the Philadelphia Mid-winter Bird Census. We've taken part in it for many years. We ran into some people yesterday, with whom we watched a Pileated Woodpecker disappear into a hole. They mentioned seeing something about the World Series of Birding. This is similar but much less competitive. The idea is to census birds in Philadephia in winter, not see who can count the most species.

Still most participants I'd guess can't deny the thrill of a high count or unusual sightings. That is also part of it. So for us one of the pleasant surprises, found after almost 8 hours of birding and 7 miles of walking was the Eastern Phoebe pictured above, seen at our very last stop, the Wissahickon.

Oddly we were alerted to him by movement along the stream bed and some vocalizations. We were shocked to look up and see a phoebe. They should have left months ago. As we continued to hear the calling though it didn't at all sound like a phoebe. When we doubled back to end our hike we found the vocal culprit: our second Winter Wren of the day.

To add to the oddness just down from this area someone practiced Tai Chi, I think, on a small foot bridge while being filmed. Feet away a small mole skttered in and out of the streamside rocks. Much more entertaining than football all in all.

Belted  Kingfisher with Fish at Manayunk Canal.

We generally see Belted Kingfishers in winter along the Manayunk Canal, our first stop of the day. But 95% of the canal was frozen on Wednesday after our cold spell. Would fish eating birds survive? We were happy to see both Great Blue Herons and this one Belted Kingfisher on our count.

Bufflehead at Manayunk Canal.

The biggest surprise of the day for us were these Bufflehead near where the canal joins up with the Schuylkill River. Due more to our preference not to combine birding with much driving we don't often bird where ducks are present, outside of the Mallards which seem to be everywhere. We have nothing against ducks, just against driving. So it was a great surprise to see these Bufflehead swimming in the canal with some mallards yesterday. I'd have to say that was the high point of the count for us.

Golden-crowned Kinglet at Manayunk Canal.

A fairly common bird of winter is the Golden-crowned Kinglet. But they have a seemingly irresistible urge to not sit still. I'm sure it's really just the need to feed. In any case whenever I get a chance to photograph them I try to do so. I know that i'll get rid of 90% of the photos because the bird will either be gone or out of focus. Normally I'd try to sketch them but I decided that there just wasn't time to sketch yesterday.

Surprise Sighting in Schuylkill River near Manayunk Canal.

And finally this surprising mammal found in the Schuylkill River near the end of our Manayunk Canal hike. If only I'd gotten a photo of that tiny mole to go with it! In the end we saw a total of 40 species, including the Pileated Woodpeckers of the title, seen in two different locations. We both always love these winter counts because they give us a chance to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors, at a time when many people don't realize all that it has to offer at this time of year.

Recent and Not-so Recent Sightings

Pileated Woodpecker Excavating Hole. Watercolor by Ken Januski

In spite of myself I seem wedded, at least for the time being, to these small 5.5x8.5 watercolor sketches in Stillman and Birn Gamma sketchbooks. In the case of the Pileated Woodpecker above I think it was the strong pose that convinced me to try to draw it and then perhaps to use watercolor to add color.

In my mind certain birds are very hard to paint: Pileated Woodpecker, Scarlet Tanager,  Cock of the Rock and others. This isn't because of complicated plumage, which might be the case for instance with a Ruffed Grouse. No it's the very simplicity of their colors. When painted it's very easy for them to look flat, like a graphic. I've yet to see a Cock of the Rock painting I like. I won't even try to paint Scarlet Tanagers though I do recall seeing a painting I liked over the last year or so.

We saw this Pileated four to six weeks ago at Carpenter's Woods throwing his head and bill into this dead tree for all he was worth. Every few minutes he'd lean deep into the tree, almost his entire body disappearing, and start tossing the chiseled wood over his head and out of the hole. It was fascinating to watch.

When I looked at some photos I'd taken I though that the pose just might be strong enough to overcome the problem of his simplistic black, white and red foliage. His head is thrown back ready for another thrust into the hole. His leg is planted solidly in almost a completely horizontal line. Hopefully a viewer can figure out that his massive head and bill will soon go flying into the hole in front of him.

I'm not big on painting trees and bark. But until I go much more abstract I need to deal with them in some way. So this is my attempt. I was a bit afraid that it might overwhelm the woodpecker. But I think it works as is. I've left the background sky and foliage very simple, perhaps too much so. But I wanted a stark contrast with the dark of the Pileated and his tree. Time will tell whether or not I try to do any more work on the foliage and sky.

Young Male Baltimore Oriole. Watercolor by Ken Januski.

This far less successful painting of a first year male Baltimore Oriole was based on a couple of photos taken yesterday at Houston Meadows. I've realized recently that I need to expand my yellow palette in watercolor. Once again I've lost the brilliant yellow I was looking for. The only real reason there is for showing this is as an apology to a person who will probably never read this. While looking at this bird, far too yellow to be a male Baltimore Oriole, two birders walked up to us. One of them argued that it was not a female Baltimore Oriole as we thought but instead a male. We knew it wasn't a mature male because of the yellow color. The head was in shadow and so could have been brown or black. The other birder was convinced it was black. To make a long story short I also took a couple of photos of it and when I looked at them they clearly showed the head to be black. So it is indeed a male Baltimore Oriole, but a first year bird.

Just as with tree bark I really need to do better with the foliage that so many birds hide in at this time of year. This is a start but only that. There's much left to be desired. And the bird lacks the brilliant yellow with just a hint of orange wash that he had in real life. I make go back into this but I think it's too late to salvage it. That will have to wait for a new work. And perhaps a new tube of a transparent yellow watercolor.

Weekend Sightings

Gnatcatcher, Blackburnian and Pileated. Sketches by Ken Januski

 

It seems like migration has truly begun. Though we haven't seen hordes of birds over the last few days, especially this weekend, we have seen enough to make it feel as though spring and migration is truly here. As is usual with warblers they don't sit around long for sketching. In fact they don't sit at all!

The only bird drawn from life here is a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and they're as flitty as any warbler. Still I did make this attempt yesterday. Later in the day we saw a Pileated Woodpecker excavating a hole. Every once in a while he would seem to rock back and forth into and out of the hole. When I put up my binoculars I realized that every few minutes when this rocking occured he was tossing out the wood that he'd just chiseled out.

I didn't begin to try to draw it, though I did take some distant photos. This is done this afternoon strictly from memory.

The biggest thrill of the weekend was a male Blackburnian along the Wissahickon today. Most of the recent warblers, even the Louisiana Warblers, have been very high, either feeding or singing. But this most beautiful of warblers perched at eye level just 10 feet away, but also for just about 10 seconds. Then he was gone for good. So this also is done from memory after I got home.

As I've said I've been experimenting with Stillman and Birn sketchbooks for my demo this Saturday. But my field sketches are generally done in ballpoint pen in a Moleskine sketchbook. That is what I used to draw the gnatcatcher so I decided to also use it for the other birds. After that I decided to experiment with adding color with the Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons and a waterbrush.

I much prefer the Stillman and Birn for more developed work in color, especially with the Caran d'Ache crayons but it's nice to know that they can also be used to add a bit of color to the Moleskine field sketches.

There was a tiime I couldn't imagine working from my memory hours later. I'm glad that I finally have enough experience that I'm at least not afraid to give it a try. Perhaps later I'll try something more developed combining the Blackburnian and one of the waterthrushes.

P.S. Given all the birds I'm seeing recently I've found myself going back to Michael Warren's American Birding Sketchbook. I admire it more everytime I look at it, especially for incorporating bird and environment, something quite rare in most bird art.

Better Philadelphia Birding

Any local readers may wonder just how I or anyone might propose to make Philadelphia birding better. A very good question. Surely I'm not about to announce my patent on attracting rare birds. No. My discovery was accidental.

The PA Audubon Rare Bird List listserve had an email the other day about an unofficial 'Bird Day' this coming Saturday, September 17. When I looked at the link for Pennsylvania Audubon I found a short article about three bird festivals this weekend. Below that I found a link to a new Fairmount Park IBA Bird Checklist.

It's the latter that's my secret for better Philadelphia Birding. Compiled by Keith Russell of Audubon PA it's a wonderful essay and checklist of birds found within Fairmount Park, including Benjamin Rush State Park. Keith has organized the Philadelphia Mid-winter Bird Census for 25 years. I and Jerene have taken part in it for the last five or six years. Each mid-winter report is a thrill to read, noting what birds are here in early January, and also how their numbers compare to birds seen in previous years.

The new Fairmount Park checklist is the similar but on a much larger scale. Each species is shown in a bar graph that shows frequency by month. Also included in the same bar graph is likelihood of presence in six locations: Wissahickon, Pennypack, East West Reservoirs, Cobbs Creek, Poquessing/Benjamin Rush State Park, and Roosevelt Park. Looking at a random entry I see that a Semi-palmated Sandpiper is only likely to be seen at Pennypack, especially in May, July, August and September. A rarer Philadelphia Vireo is likely to be seen if at all, during September and early October at any of the locations.

Of course there are other Philadelphia locations where birds might be seen. But this checklist encompasses many of the areas available to birders. It's particularly valuable to me since I spend so much time at the Wissahickon. It also makes me more likely to investigate areas like Pennypack, Benjamin Rush or Roosevelt Parks.

What I most enjoy though are the species entries. For instance the entry on the Philadelphia Vireo, a species we THINK we've seen twice at Magee Marsh in Ohio both spring and fall migration was first discovered in 1842 by John Cassin in an area of Fairmount Park known as Bingham's Woods. Now it is observed only during fall migrations with rare exceptions. This type of information is both invaluable and just plain fun to read.

Some beginning birders might find it a bit overwhelming though even for them the graphs and species accounts indicate the likelihood of seeing certain species at certain times and places. It's always good to know how likely birds are to be seen in any locale, regardless of how experienced you are. I think the checklist is most valuable though to slightly more experienced birders. It's thoroughly enjoyable to read a species account and compare it to your own experiences, or to read that species that you rarely see are actually fairly common at Roosevelt Park for instance.

And of course there is the history. To me it's fascinating to know how the Philadelphia Vireo got its name and to know its local connection. In keeping with this historical theme one of the three festivals taking place tomorrow is the Cradle of Birding festival at Tinicum.

We've never been before but are going to try to make it tomorrow. Philadelphia really is the Cradle of Birding in many ways. I always forget that, especially since I have little connection to much of the local birding community. If I had I'd probably be more mindful of it. In any case it is amazing to realize how much of American birding took place here. It should be enjoyable to go to a festival celebrating that. The newly arrived cooler weather should make ti all the more enjoyable.

Finally, if you've made it this far, I did the small 8x5 inch watercolor at top as an illustration of one of our local birds that appears on Keith's checklist. This is based on a photo I took of a Pileated Woodpecker drilling into a dead tree with the Wissahickon behind and below him. The stream, and the large rocks in it, visible through a few inches of water, is what gives the yellow-green color to the painting. I'm not too happy with this watercolor but it does serve it's purpose of illustrating local birds. And it's the first watercolor I've done of one of my favorite local birds. Maybe it will lead to more.

The Abysmal Hermit

In case you're wondering, no, I'm not referring to myself. I don't feel abysmal and though I'm not the most social of animals I wouldn't consider myself a hermit. No the abysmal hermit the title refers to is my new attempt at a watercolor of a Hermit Thrush earlier today. I'm not going to show it. I used to show some of my failures because I thought this might be useful to others. Art is as much about failure as sucess. But this one is just so far below par that I'm leaving it.

The reason I'm posting at all is that it was just two years ago on April 19, that we saw Hermit Thrushes while out birding at Fort Washington S.P. then came home to find another one in our backyard. I posted about it here. Last Friday we saw three and perhaps four at Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. They were the first we'd seen this year. Then today we spotted another in our backyard.

Given that we have a small urban backyard and each year the neighborhood loses more big trees I'm always astonished when we get any migrants. So I thought I'd celebrate with a quick watercolor of a Hermit Thrush, just like I did two years ago.

I based it on a field sketch I did on Friday. That's at top, along with a Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Mockingbird, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Eastern Phoebe, Pileated Woodpecker!!, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. The rest of the birds were also seen during the last few days.

One thing I realized in the Hermit field sketch is that the angle of the bill is always very important. It may not seem like it but I think it often is much of what gives a certain personality to a particular species. This seems especially true with thrushes. You can see that I struggled to get it right but never quite made it. So I was hoping to correct that in the watercolor. But not in this watercolor. Maybe next time.

My next project will most likely be a linocut of the Palm Warbler amidst the Bloodroots, or perhaps one of the Pileated with some Trout Lilies. The Pileated is one of our favorite birds. 18 months of not seeing one was a very long dry spell. I'm glad it's over.

One other note. When we saw Trout Lilies at SCEE last Friday they had just come out of the ground. There were no flowers at all and the leaves weren't more than three inches long at the most. Then yesterday I saw thousands of them along Forbidden Drive at the Wissahickon, just about three miles away from SCEE. The oddest thing is that I would guess SCEE gets more sun not less. So you'd think those wildflowers would be ahead of the ones at the Wissahickon. In another life when I have more time I'll have to explore this more. In any case it was great to see them in full bloom. Like Bloodroot they are striking in both shape and color, just crying out to be put into a painting or print.