Snowbound Sketching

Brown Thrashers. Pen Sketches by Ken Januski.

Carolina Wrens. Pen Sketches by Ken Januski.

Today and the following three days are the days of The Great Backyard Bird Count, an enjoyable and useful project that we always take part in. For years though we've preferred to replace the backyard with larger and more environmentally rich areas in the near vicinity.

BUT, we have I'd guess about 18 inches of snow outside right now. I can't really convince myself to drive around, and try to find parking places, in such circumstances so the GBBC so far has been limited to our backyard. Perhaps I'll  get a bit more adventurous soon. Who knows what affect all this snow will have on birds.

Because I've been stuck inside for the last 36 hours or so I've continued with doing ballpoint pen sketches based on my photos. A perceptive viewer might note that they are done in alphabetical order That's because my photos are organized that way and I'm slowly perusing them, sketching what strikes me.

These two are done using the two circle method. You might of course ask just where they are. Well I put them in very lightly, just as a guide for the final lines. It is always a bit surprising to me how delicate a ballpoint pen can be, perhaps because of the quick  movement of the pen across the paper. In any case I'm always surprised how rich it can be and also how easy it is not to feel too limited by the permanent nature of the ink. i.e. you can't erase earlier markings. Occasionally I've added a bit of white pastel if I've needed to try to erase some marks. But generally speaking I live with the marks I make.

As with the other recent sketches these are done in a Stillman and Birn Epsilon sketchbook.