but that’s allowed, right?
I am enjoying having some time to explore my own art process, but I have had the thumbs-up from the A.T.C. about the birdwatching logbook for the Appalachian Trail, so I am shelving my personal artwork to crack on with that for the time being.
Ok, so it’s not exactly keeping to the promise of my self-led residency but it does need to be done sooner rather than later, and actually I am still resisting the siren call of chasing other work and er, unpaid invoices (!!) and luxuriating in immersing myself in the world of the east coast birdlife across the pond. I’m using the excellent All About Birds website which is comprehensive and well-regarded, but I have a couple of field guides which are also really useful for adding some flavour and checking the plumage; sometimes photos are less helpful than you’d imagine as the lighting is so variable. This one also has a proper story about each of the species, which even though I might not be able to use in the body text, means I can write a well-rounded account for identification purposes.
I find it most helpful to write down notes by hand first, using all the resources around me which then allows the information to coalesce into something that fits the 100-word brief for the logbook. As I don’t want it to sound like a field guide, it’s important to vary the topics I cover for each bird while retaining the same basic structure:
Behaviour
noteworthy or diagnostic habits, also incorporating likely sighting opportunities as well as any history or snippets of info such as long-lived, mate for life, flight pattern. I also try and highlight the natural foodstuff to gently draw in the need for seeds, insects, berries etc
Plumage
compare male and female, breeding and eclipse, adult and juvenile where there is a marked contrast or the plumage is the main identifying feature of the bird
Song
attempt to relate it to known expressions rather than getting into the weeds trying to spell out the sounds, so using words like musical; whistling; trilling; chatty. Naturally some have a well-known call which is helpful!
Here are some of my paintings so far. I now need to scan them in and get them in the book, and last night on the train home from London, the onboard WiFi was unusually stable so I managed to make notes for eight species.
