“So heavy
is the long-necked, long-bodied heron,
always it is a surprise
when her smoke-colored wingsopen
and she turns
from the thick water,
from the black sticksof the summer pond,
and slowly
rises into the air
and is gone.”~ Mary Oliver
Once again, I need to thank Paint My Photo, in this case photographer Peter G Pav, for a king-sized dose of inspiration:
Majestic. Right? We love to vacation in areas these guys frequent, and every time I have been lucky enough to see a heron in real life, I’m always momentarily stunned by their grace and ethereal beauty. So it seemed like the perfect choice for the letter H, and PMP once again provided the perfect image.
Here is my rendering, this time in Polychromos, helio turquoise in my 7×7″ Stonehenge cream sketchbook.
Once again, this took me a little over an hour, and so went over budget time-wise, but it being the end of the workday, what a perfect way to wind down and focus on what is ‘above’.
I think, of all the creatures I’ve drawn so far (and you’ve pretty much seen them all here), I like birds the best. Maybe water birds, even better. There is nothing better, to me, than vacationing on the water, in a quiet part of the world, with lots of wildlife around. Well, add a full moon, and a fireplace, and we’ve reached the pinnacle.
Tomorrow, I’m taking a little departure from the alphabet for a special occasion, but I’ll be drawing another creature with wings. Looking forward to it! See you soon.
Very nicely done. You did a good job catching the transparency of the back lit wings. Easy to get lost in there I’m sure!
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It really was, thank you Rachel. I really rushed the whole back side of the picture because I knew I was going way over time wise on the front end. It was much more challenging than I thought. I’m glad you liked it; I feel better about it now. Thanks.
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Beautiful picture you drew indeed!
I must say I love birds best, too! Perhaps that is why I have a whole blog all about them! 🙂
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Thank you so much! I’ve been enjoying your blog and your photographs. Keep up the good work!
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