13 February 05
Twitchers’ Rehab
It was the perfect antidote to racing up and down the Lower Rio Grande Valley: spending an hour or so watching this owl sitting in a mature tamarisk and sketching it. Numenius rigged up the telescope so that, sitting on the ground, we had a good view to sketch from.
I was able to get about fifteen sketches of the bird done when Richard mentioned he wished he had stuff to sketch with. Here, take this, I said. I have my
So I went back to the car for the paper and then worked on this drawing, which I could never have done if I hadn’t done the warm-up sketches. I think it must be like Lorianne’s 113 early-morning bows or something. The result, in any case, was purely meditative.
- To an English ear the Lower Rio Grande Valley sounds so other-world, a Hollywood away. Great to get close enough to sketch this owl. We have only one long eared owl in our area and it’s called just that. Yours is a beauty. I love sketching live things – it’s one way to see what one is seeing but hadn’t noticed until you are trying to make decisions with a pencil or piece of chalk.— Coup de Vent 14. February 2005, 10:29 Link
- Wow! Good for you! It’s a beauty.— beth 14. February 2005, 12:36 Link
- I really would love to see an owl in its natural habitat – it is on my wish list of things I’d like to do in this life. Last year in England my sister took us on an owl spotting evening up on the old tin mine site near Priddy in Somerset. We didn’t see any owls but did hear a nightingale calling. Three weeks after we left, my sister rang to say a family of owls had arrived in the trees across the stream from her house – maybe we’ll have better luck owl spotting next time we go to England. Lovely sketch, Pica.— jenny 17. February 2005, 12:54 Link
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