goose linoprint.jpg

And a test print of the goose.
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media

wren linoprint.jpg

Test print of wren.
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media

linoprint

An early test print of bird on a wire.
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media

A cold 6 months

So winter has passed and I can venture out sketching birds again.  Over the winter I've been experimenting with linocuts and here are some original plates.

Bird on a wire.  Based on a quick sketch of a bird resting on a telephone line just after dusk

A wren, based on an old sketch

and a goose, trying to get a woodcut type of effect.

And another two

The treecreeper is a personal favourite.  I've only seen one twice but I think it might be one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen.  

The pigeon is unfinished and suffered worst of all from the poor colour settings on the scanner.

two more birds

 I was surprised to see a crested tit recently, not because they're particularly rare to my knowledge, but simply because I'd never seen one to the best of my knowledge.

The grey wagtail on the other hand is a frequent visitor to our front garden and a prominent local inhabitant.

life got busy

Well life got busy and then my wife went away for 3 nights with work and I had nothing to do but paint.  8 more birds coming in pairs.  New scanner does things I don't like to the colour so so once I figure it I'll post truer images. First up the cormorant and the rook.  Both black feathered birds with the cormorant being a beautiful purple/black and the rook a grey/blue/black.  So many shades of near black.