Another National Geographic model. One of my daydreams is to be a photographer for Nat Geo – but then I’d have to be a seriously good photographer instead of an illustrator. Mostly, I just want to travel on someone else’s dime and see lots of cool stuff. If I won the lottery, that’s what I’d do.
Somewhere between graceful and awkward lies the Great Egret. I can’t get enough of these birds. I drew one in January and one in February, too. I just kept finding awesome pictures of them, so I just kept drawing them.
I see Egrets all the time at the seashore, especially when we’re walking our dog at Point Isabel or at the Emeryville shoreline. Most of the time, they just eye us warily but don’t bother to flap away.
The hornbill is such a fun bird to draw. I adore this one.
Once upon a time, I only wanted to draw regal birds. But over the course of this project, I learned that there is something so much more satisfying about drawing an awkward bird than a majestic one. There’s so much more to uncover: wiggly bits, scratchy lines, and fun places for my pen to go wandering. I feel like there’s more discovery in an awkward bird. I learned about pin feathers on this one. They’re neat.
This little guy is sitting on a wing bone from that old (massive 6 foot) drawing, re-purposed as a background for this series. Why did I do the original drawing in red? Because it was a terrible drawing, and many bad decisions were made. I like the re-use of it, though. I chose a green jay to contrast the red.
CPU, great natural museum setting: 5’ snake in strike mode with cat 2’ from our door, cat-size rats eat soap at night, dogs, cats romp with humanus erectus. Buy spider?
CPU stands for Central Philippine University, Nanay’s alma mater, where she’s volunteering. Technically, I think she’s supposed to be tutoring the kids and helping professors. But, according to her texts, I think she’s really a jack of all trades: carpenter, counselor, exterminator…
Also, if the rats are eating the soap, I wonder what’s in the soap!
Texted Thursday, August 2, 2007 3:36 p.m.
claire meyler 