Eels…

I am completely fascinated by these slippery, mysterious creatures and their extraordinary life cycle. They are one of the subjects in my very long, 2015, to-do list. I have drawn some eels before, long ago to illustrate Philip Gross’ poem “Sargasso”. I had been thinking about another interpretation of the poem for a small book. 

They were common around the Fens in the past, and after a steep decline in the 1980’s I read their numbers are recovering. I ate smoked eel in Amsterdam. It’s a good nutritious food. More on eels as food, as glass eels, elvers, as mighty travellers and as strange, twisty, dark and magical things to come. 

A Cute…ah no….a Coot Chick.

The coot chicks are quite odd looking and not exactly cute. Dark and fluffy in the main but with an extraordinary punk hairdo. Long yellow hairs make a halo round its red and orangy head. It’s mostly bald around its eyes and beak.

 

 

Sketchbook Chick with its yellow hairs and red bald face..but I guess its Mother loves it.Watercolour 6x4 inches

A couple of years ago I wanted to return to using scraperboard. It’s a great medium for black and white and I had illustrated various things in the past using the technique. That was some time ago, when you could get wonderful professional grade white scraperboard from Essdee. Sadly that is no longer available and what they sell now is thin and yellowy with a greasy texture. However in the UK that is all that is available. “Ampersand” scratchboard from the USA is better.

 
The scraperboard and sketchbook

At the time I was trying to get used to the new stuff and made a few trial pieces including this little coot chick. I had abandoned it because of the horrible quality on the board, but today I thought I would get it finished. It’s really a test piece, so perhaps not as well thought out as it could have been but I am going to give scraperboard another try.

I was equally fascinated with its spiky hair back then!

Coot Chick  scraperboard 4 x 5 inches