Here is a female Bufflehead (left) hanging out with an American Wigeon:
And here is the male Bufflehead hanging out with a Gadwall:
And then there was this surprise...beaver?
This is a female Ring-necked Duck:
And here is Truman after I finished sketching, with his "are we done yet?" look:
I proceeded to annoy him by making a quick stop at Matthews Beach on the route home. There were several photogenic cormorants there:
And one irritated wiener dog:
On Tuesday, Nicole and I headed off to the Burke Museum for a little sketching. I decided to focus on the masks:
This display, called "Masks Bring Our Ancestors to Life", was quite challenging, and I had a lot of fun with it. The main challenge of sketching for me is that I don't use pencil first -- everything is done with ink, and sometimes watercolor is added afterwards. So if I make mistakes, I just leave them in and keep going.
I prefer working this way, as it forces me to be much more observant. The only time I feel as if I want to use pencil first is when I'm drawing people, though even there I've been trying to do pen only. Of course, as you know, I'd rather not draw people at all!
Coming Friday: an impromptu visit to Green Lake park.
These are great, especially the cormorants.
ReplyDeleteAbsent anything providing scale, I find it hard to tell a beaver from a muskrat. Given the comparative visibility of the ears and the apparent flat broad tail, unless that's just reflections or something, probably a beaver?
I've seen plenty of muskrats -- it was about twice as big. And I'm pretty sure the invasive nutria are gone from the area, so I'm voting beaver, too! That was my first impression when I spotted it (and had a better look at the tail before trying to snap the photo).
DeleteA beaver! Nice change from the usual. Speaking of drawing in ink, I bet you do crossword puzzles in ink too. I do!
ReplyDelete