Drawn to Drawing

Watercolor studies of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers based on recent photos. Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski

Numerous watercolor studies of Solitary Sandpipers based on my photos. Done over 3 days. Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski

Sumi brushpen field sketch of Solitary Sandpiper. Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski

Sumi brushpen field sketch of Spotted Sandpiper. Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski

Sumi brushpen field sketch of Spotted Sandpiper. Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski

Watercolor sketches of Least Sandpipers from my photos. Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski.

Watercolor sketches of Least Sandpipers from my photos. Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski.

Sumi brushpen field sketch of Downy Woodpecker on feeder. 
Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski

Watercolor sketches of Common Yellowthroat. Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski

Two pencil drawings of Willow Flycatchers and based on my recent photos. My intent was to just draw what I saw and then see if I could identify it as a Willow by just looking at the drawing. Copyright 2024 by Ken Januski

 I have recently finished a new mokuhanga. But the last time I did so I posted about it but said that I felt bad about not writing a post about drawing and drawing from life and posting it first.

So to remedy that situation I'm posting all these drawings and sketches before posting about the new moku hanga prints. In my moku hanga I often talk about the composition, the orchestration of formal elements, the technique, etc., etc I do so because they are all important to me. But in doing so I don't mention how important drawing, especially from life, and capturing some part of life through drawing  are to me. It is sort of the primitive  counterpart to the more 'sophisticated' act of artistic composing. For many people I think they choose one or the other. I firmly believe in, and love, both. So without many words other than these here are some of my drawings of the last 3-4 months. Only one of them includes many details, that of the Willow Flycatcher. I did that because I wanted to see if I could identify the resulting drawing as a Willow if I faithfully copied my photo. I rarely do that. But I find that in carefully drawing what I see I often see what I had previously missed! It is more about observation than art. Most of the others focus on capturing a sense of the bird, especially of its shape and movement.

Keep Sketching, and Painting

Ovenbird at Magee Marsh. Watercolor by Ken Januski.

Great Egret at Morris Arboretum. Watercolor by Ken Januski

With the arrival of football season once again......... I know it's almost June but the weather has been reminiscent of early fall, with a real chill in the air. We started off birding on Friday morning, after dropping off one of our cats at the vet, in low 60 degree weather. As the rain continued the temperature plunged. Soon we were birding, none too successfully, in 49 degree weather.

When we returned from the vet I decided that I wasn't going to bird again until the wind died down and the weather warmed up. As I sat in my studio trying to decide what to do I looked through some photos and once again turned to sketching, again in my Stillman and Birn 5.5x8.5 Gamma sketchbook.

As Bob Kuhn, among many others, has said: you should always keep drawing. I think that's true. One loss I felt when I turned to completely abstract work was that of drawing. Though I still drew it wasn't from anything real. I always missed that. Now that I'm doing it again I remember just how satisfying it is.

At the same time though I'd add 'Keep Painting.' They really are two different methods of portraying the world, though often quite well merged in many successful artists. There's the desire for line and structure that drawing fulfills. And there's the desire for color, shape, texture that paint seems better at.

For some reason at least to me it seems that wildlife art relies more on the linear aspect of art, perhaps because of its desire for verisimilitude. But painting is about paint, whether oil, acrylic or something else. For me watercolor remains a difficult but rewarding medium. So after I'd done these two sketches I decided to continue on in watercolor. Particularly with the ovenbird it became much more a painting than a drawing with watercolor added. To me it's just as important to keep painting as it is to keep sketching. Do both, and eventually, you'll have something to show for it.

I'd much prefer if I could work from life like this, rather than rely on photos. But it is a learning experience, particularly in regard to learning watercolor. I'm sure it will eventually pay off in the field, the next time that ovenbird walks by.

Winter Sketching

It seems inevitable that this time of year I always end up doing a number of sketches from my photos. I guess this is probably due partially to the fact that it's too cold to be outside as often as I am at other times of the year.

I've also been reading a number of books about wildlife artists almost all of which mention how they based their art on field sketching. But field sketching, which I've done a bit of recently, always seems to show me how much more I have to learn about the form of birds.

That in turn makes me think that I might learn more about their form from drawing from my photos. So that's the origin of the work above. At top are a number of sketches of Eastern Wood Pewees. Beneath are some Eastern Phoebes on the left and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Cedar Waxwing on the right.

All of the photos struck me in some way, for instance how differently shaped the heads of the two flycatchers, Eastern Wood Pewee and Eastern Phoebe are. That's just one of the things I notice in comparing them. I'm almost never able to get a decent field sketch of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, nor really a decent photo. So this good one I took last year was a good source for understanding how their tail works. In real life it's often the only thing that I see. For the Cedar Waxwing this was an opportunity to try to get their somewhat mysterious bill, as well as the markings going from it to and around the eyes.

My thought was that by trying to put these things down on paper I'd remember them better and perhaps be able to call on that knowledge next time I get an opportunity to sketch them in the field. There's also an attempt to internalize their structure so that I can abstract from them. My last Green Heron print shows I think how I like to abstract from nature. But that's much easier to do when I think that I have a solid understanding of the bird I'm abstracting. I'm starting to feel better about that.

Unfortunately that's not the case with trees and shrubs. I'm afraid somewhere along the line I'm going to have to do more sketches like these of the vegetation I see!