Small Owl Dancing with Bees

Yesterday we had a morning in Cambridge, first the Botanical Garden and then the Fitzwilliam Museum to see the Turner Watercolours and the other exhibition of watercolours which trace the development of the watercolour. Both were fascinating. But also walking through the ceramics gallery there were two lovely owls. One a huge Martin Brothers owl and the other a gorgeous smaller slipware jug.

I made a couple of quick sketches because it just so happens that I have been making a small experimental print of an owl. It started out as just a regular if stylised owl, but it seemed to need a bit of action so I changed the drawing to make it dance… and then it seemed to also need some companions so I gave it some bees.

There were brown/yellow and  blue/dk blue prints. The image is 6 x4.

Small Owl Dancing with Dees.

What was most interesting about the slip ware owl was the dot/dash decoration of the slip. The simplification is very design-y. So is my owl. I may try a print of the slipware owl too. but in some ways it seems like cheating because the “design” element has already been done…. unless I could bring something new to it….

All prints are just more experiments in combining plates, improving my cutting and trying to get the registration right. I am getting better, slowly …..

The Pretty Partridge

Spring seems to be at last waking things up and I am continuing with my printmaking experiments for our Gidding Wood project and focusing on wildlife that makes “music” of one sort or another.
However  I don’t think the partridge’s rusty clucking is very much like music.. except to other partridges of course. You can hear it on the RSPB site here.

So this is one of my planned bird portraits. I chose the Red Legged Partridge because it is so pretty :). I saw one, a few years ago now, at Heligan. It was nesting in a hedge by the office.
So far I have a few notes and quick sketches and have cut one block. It’s small, about 4.5 inches square. 

More progress this week I hope. 

Floating Red Kites

 

No, not the sort you can fly in the blustery weather we've ben having but you do catch sight of these kites  floating in the sky above you as you walk through Jubilee wood and  what a wonderful sight it is too .

 

 

 

 

Pencil and watercolour reference sketches

 

The red kite [Milvus milvus]was re-introduced to this area several years ago and they have been spectacularly successful in breeding and becoming a normal part of the rural landscape.  When fully grown they can have a wingspan of 2 metres and at this time of year  they are busy calling or 'mewing' to their mates, who they usually keep for life, and it's  a lovely sound as they soar above you in the bright blue sky with those distinctive forked tails and white bars under their wings. 

The young woodland provides cover for a lot of small mammals but the kites are always on the lookout  for small prey and carrion.   Next month I might be lucky enough to see their aerial displays as the breeding season starts.   Spring must be coming!

Branching form: prints

I am learning more about woodcuts and the Jubilee Wood and Tree Following projects will give me some good subjects to play with.  These are two prints from earlier this week. One a monoprint, the other a woodcut. I am using a simple branching shape to experiment with techniques… interesting.

Tree Sketches

With our Jubilee Wood project in mind, this week I am looking at trees, in all sorts of ways. Today I walked down to the reservoir where along the side of the main path are a magnificent stand of poplars. They are regal. It’s really the first time I have looked carefully at the fascinating rhythmic branching pattern.  I made a few quick sketches of the poplar and a few other  local trees.

The old oak and the branching poplar, A5 sketchbook

Sycamore and the twiggy downward arching willow, complete with camellia galls.

and, back home, a simplification of the poplar pattern.

Suddenly many Art Deco designs make sense to me!

Winter woodland

The weather this last week has been a good reminder that winter is not going to slip out quietly, even if the first signs of spring are here with the narrow, dark green snowdrop leaves pushing their way up through the ground. After the first scattering of snow I walked through the Jubilee Wood one  afternoon just as the sun was dipping down and caught sight of some bird tracks in the snow. Identifying them is not my strong point but after a bit of research I think I can safely say they belonged to a pheasant.......

  
A very quick sketch with watercolour and gouache to help remind me of  the shape of the prints running  along the edge of the hedge in the crunchy snow. Many pheasants are now using the wood for cover as both the trees and ground cover are  growing up  and providing them with somewhere to hide, forage and roost for the night.

Pencil and watercolour in sketchbook [30x20cm]

 

Phasianus colchicus,  known to most of us as the pheasant, is Britain's most widespread game bird  and originally came from Asia and China. The strong markings and neck colour of the adult makes it easy to identify and ideal as a subject for a print so I had better start putting these sketches to some use...... 

 

 

As for the greater spotted woodpecker print which I started last time, I've now got a much better idea of how the finished piece will look  after putting the vinyl block through the press

 

Dendrocopos major

 

I still have some more work to do on this piece, but am pleased with the composition in general. The next stage will be to print the small areas of red on the head of the juvenile at the front and the male in the centre of the picture.

Woodpeckers and galls

As I was walking through our village Jubilee wood this week, I came across some galls in one of the small oak trees.  As many of the trees are still only 6-8 feet high you get a good view of the lichen, galls and other beasties who live there  and the bright almost luminous colours of some of the lichens in the sunshine are just wonderful.

 

These galls look like chocolate truffels stuck onto the branch but they definitely aren't for eating. The larval stages of the gall wasps induce the plant to make these abnormal growths called galls  and our native oak trees are host plants for more than 30 species!

I can feel a print coming on once I've done more research into these little creatures but in the meantime I'm working on a lino print of woodpeckers. Our peanut feeder has attracted a greater spotted woodpecker in this colder weather and it's a pleasure to see him feeding there even though the squirrels are very good at getting in first.

                                         Pen and ink sketch of Greater spotted woodpeckers for lino cut.  21 x 15 cm

Next stage......transferring to a block and start cutting once I've decided on whether to make it a reduction print or to use a block for each colour.  Watch this space!