Do you procrastinate on doing things that you don’t like? I do! Writing blogs is one of those things. I have some great ideas but it is hard to get them down on paperbecause I have the worste spelling and grammar skills around. So it takes an effort to sit down and write.. brain power. I used the excuse that I didn’t have anything to write on but now I have my own tablet with a keyboard, so can’t use that anymore.
The year of 2020 was an unhealthy year for me. Started with multiple large kidney stones that had to be removed surgically. Immediately after recovery from that, I came down with the dreaded COVID. It was like having really bad asthma days for days on end. Probably because I have asthma the covid just wouldn’t let go and I had it from March until July. So I spent a lot of time laying in bed, looking out the window at birds, laying on the couch, looking out the window at birds, laying on the porch watching birds. So guess what I have been drawing? Birds.
My favorite bird to watch has to be the crows. I think are just so interesting and beautiful in a bleak way. The way they walk on the lawn was something I never could get right. They kind of bob as they move. They are pretty skittish. Carrying a camera with you to get a quick picture was a must. But sometimes that didn’t work, as a movement of my hand would scare them off.
I usually don’t use a lot of black in my painting, but the black on the crows is such a rich color. When the sun hits them it has tint of blue and purple sometimes red. Have you seen them on the bare dead tree branches above the green tree line? I wonder if the crows like that spot so well so they can be lookouts. They look like spies up there alone.
For my birthday last year I asked my family for some Akua ink, Brayer tools and paper to play around with monotype printing. Basically you make marks on a plastic sheet of some kind and print it onto paper by pressing. Wonderful way to do some free form creating. The Akua ink is soy based and dries really really slow. It is very nice to put pastels on top of. ( my next blog post will be more of the process) . This painting of the crows was done in this process.
Hope you had a healthy 2020 and we all have a great 2021! And maybe I will get some more blogs out.