Rational Poetry » Artwork

Serpent

Jocelyn — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:46:12 +0000

Rawr.

Waxwing & Robin Study

Jocelyn — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:04:10 +0000

While on my way to Grass Lake early yesterday morning, I came across this Cedar Waxwing lying in the middle of the road. The back of the bird was a bit smashed up, but I keep plastic baggies and a box of latex gloves in my vehicle for such occasions (nestled beside the jar of Vaseline I use as a sealant for my car’s leaky gas cap — I forsee a rather awkward conversation if the authorities ever find the need to pull me over and search my trunk). I’ve never held a waxwing before, and I don’t think I’ve ever realized just how tiny they are. It’s always tough to gauge the size of a bird through the bins, and I routinely overestimate them. I still recall the shock of scoping a Least Sandpiper foraging next to a Song Sparrow while out birding several years ago, and realizing that the sparrow was bigger!

As I pulled into the next sideroad to turn my vehicle around and retrieve the waxwing, I happened to drive up next to another fallen bird. A juvenile American Robin this time, still sporting the yellow flanges of a recent fledgling on either side of his bill. It’s not often that I get a close-up look at a fledged robin, as they are generally shyer than the adults, acting in accordance with their thrush nature. They even wear the dappled spots of other closely related thrushes, although these are lost when they moult into their adult plumage.

Phoebe

Jocelyn — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:09:39 +0000

We’ve reached the lull, that period of spring migration where the usual early arrivals have already settled in and we wait eagerly for the coming onslaught. I spotted a Barn Swallow wheeling overhead yesterday, decidedly early for this species. It won’t be long now.

Here’s an Eastern Phoebe, found on a windy day near the bluebird boxes at Guelph Lake:

Woodpecker – Completion

Jocelyn — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:23:57 +0000

What? March? Really?! Time I finished up with this.

I used Payne’s grey almost exclusively while building up the first three quarters of the painting. As a result, I had to fight with it a bit to warm up the lunar palette, and it remains a very cold piece. Sometimes you go too far. But painting never ceases to be a learning process.

I probably would have put this aside long ago, but every time I thought I was finished I decided the shadows just weren’t dark enough and started another coat. A bit more burnt umber, this time? It’s difficult to judge the contrast of a piece in the dark of winter evenings under artificial light. I had a lot of fun with the flaking cherry bark, carving it up into irregular scales. Like a collection of unmatched puzzle pieces forced to fit together.

Going Up - Black Cherry and Downy Woodpecker

Little Brown Jobs

Jocelyn — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:13:54 +0000

I paint a lot of sparrows. Most avian art depicts flashier subjects — the warblers, the orioles, the hummingbirds, and other celebrities of the birding world. But I love the Emberizids and their earthen colours, and the subtle patterns of their mantles, and even their shy, skulking natures. Even if I’m awful at telling them all apart.

Song Sparrow

I started this painting in late August, when the back country roads I take to work were thickly edged with blooming chicory and the feathery heads of brome grass. But late fall is really the season for sparrows, when most other migrants have already departed and the landscape reflects the dry browns and greys of these birds. Most people dislike this time of year, bookended between the vibrant hues of autumn leaves and the purity of winter snows, but I find it artistically engaging. Now, the little brown jobs are in their element.

Fox Sparrow, Guelph Arboretum

Red-headed Woodpecker

Jocelyn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:10:20 +0000

A quick painting of that gorgeous Pelee inhabitant.

Mixed media.

American Redstart

Jocelyn — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:48:31 +0000

Nearly a year he’s sat there on the easel in my living room, so very near completion but not quite. Painting is always an exciting process in the early stages — the life studies, the preliminary work, laying the initial compositional sketch down on that freshly stretched sheet. As time goes by, however, it becomes more difficult to pick up that brush and continue where I left off. Eventually I lose my rhythm entirely, and the work is mostly abandoned. I’ve been harbouring a lot of resentment toward this little fellow, and I think he’ll stay in the portfolio for awhile — we need a break from each other.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Sumac

Jocelyn — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:19:13 +0000

I can’t say the background does much for the Grosbeak’s plumage, but I had some big gobs of Yellow Ochre and Paynes Gray left in my watercolour tray from a previous work and felt the urge to use them.

Loki, my three month old Dusky Parrot and practionioner of the hallowed psittacine philosphy of “everything can be eaten,” decided to taste-test one of those aforementioned paint gobs. His beak looks a little blacker than usual in this photo. Good thing watercolour isn’t toxic.

Paint looks delicious. It isn't

Snow Day on the Metz

Jocelyn — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:17:11 +0000

It’s been years since I’ve pulled out the acrylics, but I just wasn’t up to the challenge of all that white in an unforgiving and potentially muddy medium like watercolour. The option to revise, of course, means that I did just that — and lots of it. Weeks of repainting, reworking and frustration, but she’s finally (and thankfully) finished.

Pine Grosbeak and Crabapples

Jocelyn — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:42:38 +0000

I’ve had only fleeting glimpses of the Bohemian Waxwings in the Arb this winter, but Guelph’s other visiting attraction, the Pine Grosbeaks, are much more approachable. Numbers vary from a handful to several hundred, but if one spends a little time by the crab apple trees behind the university’s Bovey Building, they’re bound to show up.