Next To Last Color on the Mergansers and Bufflehead Woodcut

Red-breasted and Common Mergansers with Bufflehead at Flat Rock Dam. Nearly Finished State of Two-block Woodcut by Ken Januski.

In a way it's silly to show this woodcut in it's current state. That's because the black block, which is so important to the mergansers in particular has not yet been printed on it. But I thought some readers might be interested in seeing it from my perspective, before I print the black block which I hope will pull it all together.

Those white spaces on the mergansers are particularly bothersome but they'll disappear when I print the black block. This is the print on good paper by the way, Shin Torinoko. So the print will look largely like this except for whatever changes the black block brings about.

In my proofs I haven't been happy with the black. I'm not quite sure if that is due to the ink or not, my last tube of Daniel Smith Water-Soluble black ink. As a test I'll probably at least try the other water-soluble black ink I have, from Caligo. I haven't used it in at least a year. But I do want to make sure that the black I print prints fully and doesn't leave any faint inking as it has on my proofs. It if takes a different ink to get full saturation of the black then that's what I'll use.

I do hope I can finish this before I get distracted by all sorts of new migrants, and other of the distractions of a long sought after spring. Related to that, our witch hazel is finally in bloom, about a month later than usual!

Arriving Warblers, Departing Ducks

Pine Warbler and Ring-necked Ducks. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski

I hate to post something new here. That's because I'm so happy with that last grebes and mergansers print that I'd like to leave it up permanently.

But time and the seasons move on and I hate to not mention something about them. Earlier this week, I saw my first Pine Warbler of 2014. After the long dreary winter their strong, bright yellow is always a welcome harbinger of things to come. I saw him while walking along Forbidden Drive in Wissahickon Park in Philadelphia but unfortunately the view was all to brief. Fortunately though he was low, just above eye level, so I did get a good look at his rich yellow.

Later in the week just as the first of 3-5 rainy days began I went to the wetlands of Morris Arboretum, looking for Wilson's Snipe, a bird we sometimes see there this time of year. I'd also heard that some long-billed shorebirds had been seen so that convinced me to brave the rain and go looking for them.

Try as I might I didn't find them but finally I realized that those strikingly contrasting Mallards at the far end of the pond were in fact not Mallards but Ring-necked Ducks. It's the first time I've ever seen any there  I think that during migration though it pays to pay attention. Migrants can't be too choosy and you just don't know what you may find in any location.

I never saw this scene. The Pine Warbler was about a mile away on a different day. But their juxtaposition is plausible and I like the idea of illustrating the arrival of one migrant and the departure of another.

I'm not too experienced with waterfowl but it seems this year has been far more active than normal, probably because of frozen water farther north. It's been a pleasure to see so many close to home. But without a doubt I'm ready to trade them for warblers, a symbol of a long awaited spring if there ever was one.

Each spring I find I do watercolor sketches like this, often combining birds not actually seen together. These really are the working through of ideas more than anything else. They are both illustrations of something and compositional studies. Yes they are sloppy and indistinct. But their purpose is really as a compositional study for a possible print or painting at another time. Perhaps even a woodcut like the last one. It is a direction I'll continue to pursue.

Signs of Change

First Hermit Thrush of 2014. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski

Even week after week of cold and heavy snow eventually must acknowledge that the seasons are changing. It is still a bit of tough going out walking. Though many days in the 50s have melted the snow on well-trodden paths and walks the less well-trodden areas where we've gone birding recently still offer some surprises. Just when you put your weight on one foot to stride forward down it goes into the snow, throwing you off balance.

Yesterday I started the day viewing 50 Snow Geese flying NE outside my studio window. Later in the day a walk through  deep snow at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education ended with 25 very low-flying Snow Geese. We've never seen more than one flock in a day. But just as we parked the car back home another flock, this one of 100 or so, flew over honking as they flew. I later learned that someone else in Philadelphia saw 5100! yesterday.

Yes there are signs of spring about. We also noticed yesterday that our 'Arnold Promise' Witch Hazel is starting to bloom.

When we arrived at Morris Arboretum this morning we were greeted by singing Red-winged Blackbirds, the first singing ones we've seen this year. We ended up seeing 29 birds, none particularly exciting. Again we saw a Common Merganser in the Wissahickon, the second time this year, after never having seen them previously. Much more exciting though were our first Hooded Mergansers of the year, in a tributary of  the Wissahickon, At the same time appeared the bird portrayed above, our first Hermit Thrush of 2014

Though they can be here during the winter they always are more likely early migrant birds. This is the earliest we've ever seen them. We do often see them in spring, though we sadly missed them last year, and I've done many sketches of them. Their signature pot belly and slowly lifting reddish tail are a welcome sight. So I'm happy to have the chance to add one more watercolor sketch to my collection.

Around the house the House Finches have been singing for a couple of weeks, even with all that snow. So have the Mourning Doves and the Song Sparrows, though it's hard to tell if the Song Sparrows actually ever stop.

In any case spring is definitely on the way. There is more snow in the forecast and an end to these 50 degree days. But no matter, spring will win out.

I'm more and more convinced that my artistic future lies with more abstract work. But for now I  couldn't resist this more or less realistic portrait of the handsome Hermit Thrush.

The Snowy Squeal of Spring

First Wood Ducks of Sprigng - Eating Snow. Watercolor by Ken Januski

 

Once I start seeing new birds, or hearing about others seeing new birds, every day presents a temptation to go out. I can exercise, sketch, bird all at the same time. Today wasn't all that inviting but I'd remembered seeing a very early Eastern Phoebe along the Wissahickon last year and decided it was worth a try, even with a weather forecast of rain and flurries.

The flurries started almost as soon as I got there. But all it did was make the day more beautiful. Snow always quiets the environment but it does so particularly in a natural setting and even moreso along a stream. In this weather the stream seems to belong to the wildlife not the human visitors.

Part way along I heard a familiar squeal - that of the Wood Duck. Though a few had overwintered in the swan pond of Morris Arboretum I hadn't yet seen any along the Wissahickon, nor heard their squeal.

As I made my way to Valley Green the two grew to at least 13. The snow came down harder and this female couldn't resist snapping out at a flake.

As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to give it a try in paint. Without the looseness of yesterday's Killdeer painting I doubt I would have tried this. How in the world was I going to render the falling snow, the extreme darkness of the water, the snowflake? I think yesterday convinced me not to worry about it and just improvise.

Gardening Detour

About twenty years ago we ordered a number of small booklets on gardening from Storey Publishing. One of them was about cold frames. I built a cold-frame based on one of the plans in there soon after we got the book.

When I took my very first college art courses at City College of San Francisco there were a number of courses in design. I always was puzzled as to just what design was. Over the years I began to realize that good design was a combination of aesthetics and utility. Something that was well designed did the job it was supposed to do and it did it well. If it seemed elegant then it had aesthetics as well. When you use something that is well designed you take a real pleasure in it.

That was the case with the cold frame. It was collapsible so that I could take it apart easily each year when the weather had gotten too warm to need it, then put it back together in late fall. Finally it started to fall apart, not through bad design but just through the rot that occurs when wood spends too much time in contact with earth and water.

The tops, which were just old windows I'd picked up off the street, eventually fell apart. So last fall I constructed new wooden frames for some all metal and glass windows I'd also picked up off the street. As I built them I wondered if it was worth the expense of wood and time.

For all my admiration of the cold frame's design I found that I never used it well. We left crops in the garden so late in the fall that by the time I'd harvested them and put up the cold frame it was almost too late to plant anything. What I did plant often stayed dormant until spring, then quickly went to seed. The one good use I made of it was a way to harden off new seedlings and transplants in spring.

But last fall I managed to get a number of choi seedlings in along with a few volunteer transplants from other parts of the garden. Against my better judgement I also planted some mache in late November even though the instructions said that they should not be planted when the weather was not reliably in the mid 40s or higher.

What wonders a very mild winter can cause. The cold frame has been bursting its top with chois. An heirloom lettuce threatens to do the same, as does ah heirloom celery. In other sections of the cold frame rows of mache herald the beginning of spring with the bright lime green of early foliage.

We've had some of the choi for supper the last couple of nights. There's always a sign of incredible optimism, a sense that all's right with the world, when we're able to have the first food from the garden for the year. I'm sure that optimism will continue as new birds arrive daily and plants begin to spring up.

Now back to the drawing board.

Spring Marches Steadily On

It's hard to believe that spring is showing some signs of appearing once again. I wish I could say that I've seen these signs personally. But I haven't. It's just what I've read. The PA Rare Bird List has included reports of the first singing Tufted Titmice and Song Sparrows. In Delaware I believe I read that a Black-crowned Night Heron had returned. Soon, especially if there's snow, we'll see members of the blackbird family in our backyard, at least for a moment or two. It's about time to see some Common Grackles along with our unwanted guests the Brown-headed Cowbird.

Today I wanted to try a 'flash' painting, an exercise where you do a painting without any pencil sketching in 15 minutes. I decided to use some photos of the first ever Cattle Egrets that we saw in Cape May, NJ last November. The first attempt took 30 minutes so I couldn't really count it. The next one took only 15 but when it was done I felt it was incomplete. So I later went back into it. The results are at top. I probably spent a total of 30-45 minutes on it.

Paintings like this aren't finished. They're just exercises that sometimes also look like paintings. I do like the sense of life that they often have, even if there's little sense of finish.

Cattle Egrets do in fact seem to march, or strut, often leaning backwards a slight bit. They march steadily on, just as I hope spring will continue to do.

F.O.Y. - A True Calendar

In birder parlance 'F.O.Y.' means 'First of Year.' Though the unseasonably warm weather of the last few days should convince anyone that spring is here, I actually prefer to gain that knowledge by seeing certain natural events that always take place at the same time of year. For instance, the arrival of the first Tree Swallows, who tumble through the air in what looks like boundless enthusiasm. Of course it's probably more simple: they're hawking insects. The first kildeer of the year are the same, and the first blackbirds, chipping loudly and then singing their 'Conk-a-ree' song. These events are what convince me that spring is truly here and that the new cycle of warm seasons has begun. Winter is fading.

We saw our first of year Tree Swallows and Red-winged Blackbirds today at Morris Arboretum. We also saw one Kildeer. And we saw many angry geese, constantly squawking and chasing one another, head down like some vicious snake. We'd never really noticed this behavior before but I'm sure it was territorial - one more sign that spring is truly here.

Finally I'm nearing the end on this watercolor based on some photos I took last week of the first Kildeer of the year. I did a quick watercolor last week but I wanted to do something more developed on better paper. That inevitably causes me to lose some spontaneity I think. And I used a lot of gouache to regain lost whites. I'd prefer to get my whites and light colors through better planning and saving the white of the paper. But for now this will have to do.

Someone, I think Ellen from The Spicebush Log, once mentioned that drawing and painting birds must be relaxing. It is. But it is also tense. One of the tensions is getting what you want down on paper but still keeping the white of the paper so that there is a sense of light emanating from the paper. It is tense but it's also one of the things that I think makes art addictive to artists. You always try to do a little better, and you always know that what you've done is not perfect. So you may be thrilled with it. And yet over time you see the next plateau on the horizon.

Spring Will Out....

even if it is just a Palm Warbler in the Mud.

A quick watercolor based on a photo of a palm warbler seen at Oakdale Nature Preserve in Freeport, Illinois in April, 2008, in fairly wintry conditions.

We will forget about all I've said regarding values and tonal contrast for this one............... I remained somewhat true to the muddy conditions of the warbler's habitat. And though I thought of tonal variety as I worked it just seemed to disappear. I think the white paper, peeking through in places, counteracts the mud somewhat. I may do more work on this but most likely I'll just leave it as is. I fear more work will only make it darker and muddier.

The palm warbler truly is a sign of spring in our area though. Pine warblers are often earlier but less likely to be seen. But when you see the golden glow of the palm you know that spring is on its way!