This drawing is a bit of an experiment. It’s the first time this year that I drew unfeathered chicks (rather than a juvenile or adult). It’s also the first time that I drew more than one bird in a composition.  It seems like I’ve been drawing “portraits” of individual birds.

I was drawn to this image because the chicks form such a nice little celtic knot of naked bird-y pinkness. I love the way their necks are intertwined over one another in their sleep. Also, the outline is an almost perfect triangle (which, according to my art history learning, is the most stable of all compositions).

It also tickles me that these guys are toco toucans, the same bird as that obnoxious Toucan Sam in all the Froot Loops commercials. And yes, it is spelled “froot,” lest anyone get the notion that there is actual FRUIT contained in those tiny sugar bombs. So I’m very happy that these toco toucans look absolutely nothing like the Kellogs spokesbird. yay.

So, I was saying that color scares me. And this is the perfect example. I chose to draw a hummingbird – a RUBY-THROATED, no less. And what do I do? I chose a close up of a juvenile’s head. A juvenile who is too young to have developed that famous ruby throat. He is still a hum drum grey, with only a few tiny flashes of yellow-green to show off. But oh, those tiny flashes took me forever! I agonized on how to get that shiny shiny glow of those eight little feathers. Unfortunately, the scan doesn’t quite capture how successful this effort turned out. You’ll just have to come visit me (or my show, if these ever get shown anywhere?)

One thing that tickles me about this drawing: I did such a super close up on the hummingbird, that the drawing of just his head is far larger than the actual bird! I see these in my front yard all the time, and they are so tiny and quick. Zooom!

When I saw the words “clay-colored” I was expecting a very plain bird. And mostly, it is rather plain looking by all accounts. But even with a plain coat, I was entranced by that copper-colored eye. And the more I looked, the more color I found: green and orange flashes in the bill.

Color is dangerous for me, because I don’t really understand it. My crap art school education at UC Berkeley taught me nothing of color theory, and I’ve worn only black for nearly two of my three decades. Color is scary. But the more I look for it, the more I find it in these wonderful little birds.

The groove billed ani is a member of the cuckoo family. Cuckoos are distinct because they have two toes that point forward and two that point back (unlike the more common bird foot, three forward and one back.)

I didn’t know it was a type of cuckoo when I drew it. But I thought that big hooked bill made it look kind of menacing, like a raven or other scavenger. So I picked this background to go with that mood. Ominous.

Neat bright red bills on the shelduck. I had fun with this one, using my watercolor pencils. I don’t usually use the watercolor-ness of them to the full advantage, but it seems to work really well when doing both the shiny beak texture and a mass of evenly smooth feathers.

He looks sleepy. He also looks fake. But I swear to you that this is what this bird looks like. They are kind of weird and plasticy and bizarrely textured. I wonder what they would feel like…

Kaw!

I didn’t spend as much time on the details with this one. I was more interested in capturing his energy and the strong emotions I read in his face. I could just be anthropomorphizing. But I like how urgently he appears to be yelling.

I like the tails on these birds. They have a few long feathers that extend down the middle of the tail. For a black and white bird, it’s quite a nice touch of flair.

I once made the point of mentioning that I am lazy at backgrounds. Here is a perfect example. In the photo, this bird has his butt nestled against a pile of rocks. So it makes sense that both his tail and his shadow climb the rock face. However, I hate drawing rocks. So I just left them out. And both tail and shadow hover in a bizarre white world. Oh well. At least now you know why the shadow does that weird thing.