Looking at Birds at the Promenade

I had already been planning on doing some sort of nature-related post this week, and since JT did one last week I felt pretty good about the choice...we're staying on-theme. I've been pretty unmotivated lately because of [fill in the blank daily existential catastrophe], and also I keep hurting my back, which has made it a little difficult to sit and draw...or to want to do anything.

3 weeks ago I rage-walked two miles to the Flushing Bay Promenade, a little park on the water next to the airport. I anticipated seeing a few ducks and gulls but there was quite a bit of birdy action! I went back two more times in the last few weeks with my camera. I took a ton of pictures and have been using those as reference for some gentle drawing and painting that I'm trying not to think too hard about. I guess I have a "nature journaling" practice but I'm still trying to figure out what that means for me. I've said a little about it here before but haven't posted most of the art I've done. I'm not doing it this week either.

I saw some ring-billed gulls looking like they were dancing on the water's surface, picking some sort of gooey looking creatures out and then flying off. It was really cool to watch and I'm still trying to figure out how to capture it on paper.

I don't do a ton of drawing "in the field" but my friend Michelle and I were out in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge the other weekend and we sat down to draw for a bit. I did an experiment where I looked through my binoculars and drew the ducks without looking at the paper. Fun! I got a little bored of drawing sleeping ruddy ducks after a while and switched the the phragmites (I looked at the paper for that).

Anyway... that's all, thanks for reading, hope everyone is having a good week!