Over the last months, my classes have studied, painted, examined and - gotten inspired by animals and birds in the landscape.
This went beyond a general look at reference material, we have spent several months looking at anatomy, how feathers grow, how the feet/talons work.
That's the great thing about pursuing something specific to study - you also get
inspired by it.
Birds got me excited: songbirds, raptors, birds I have never even looked at before.
In a previous post I included photos of Magpies we did in class; - back at my studio I tried to add more character to my sketches. Magpies are full of personality and I wanted to push that idea a little bit.
Each bird I sketched seemed to have something to say and the conversation became even more fun when I put several birds together.
. . . . . and it all started with taking a look at something new - in this case birds.
Of course, many of the students did more realistic birds- and I did a few of those too. Either way, we are all looking at birds with new eyes.