Birds are People Too

Goony Birds

 Here are more doodles of morose storks (or herons, crows or cormorants --or a combination of all of them!)
Why are they so depressed, anxious and worried? I don't know. They don't answer their email!

Is he looking for something or does he think we can't see him?

He wishes he brought a book

doing nothing and he looks guilty. Why do I suddenly feel implicated too?
Brilliant!

waiting for something to come out… out of what??!

could be body surfing?

The Stork & The Rhinoceros

Say "Hello" to Mr. Stork. I found him in my studio one morning.

He wanted to cross the river one day but was afraid to get his feet wet (silly bird!)

The lily pads were very wobbly!

Fortunately, Miss Rhinoceros, who wasn't afraid of anything, offered to give Mr. Stork a ride across the river.

The water wasn't deep at all! Mr. Stork was just afraid of too many things.

They made it across and the stork thanked Miss Rhinoceros profusely.
Sometimes, depending on the nature of one's friendship, it's easier to just help someone and not make too many observations and comments! Maybe Mr. Stork will find a way to help out Miss Rhinoceros someday.

Always Vigilant

"He's guarding his stuff"
© 2012 Rob Dunlavey
graphite

Unless someone takes pity on this fearful creature, he will starve up there all alone on his precious pile of bags and baggage. What could be so valuable?
Details below:

The whole sketchbook page has writing and another sketch on it.

Seascape with Cormorant

Solitary Cormorant Contemplating the Overcast Sky

I like the way this painting turned out. It's done in a variety of media. The bird was made from some hand-colored paper collaged after the lonely rock seascape was done and waiting for a few weeks, unfinished. Here are some details:

Finishing Things

In graduate school, I had a sculpture professor who made it clear to me that I needed to finish things. Somehow from there on I started a habit of trying to bring drawings to some sort of conclusion. I draw every day and it has become a discipline: finish something (anything!) each day.

I started a new sketchbook last weekend – but I'm still finishing paintings in the old one. Here are a few of those paintings: This painting with the storks on top of the house started out as a nice Crystal City drawing. It was very colorful but that was all. I did collage a big dark cloud above the building but still it sat there unfinished. So at some point, I added rain and then it got darker and darker. I'd had this thought that some birds would be a nice touch. So they flew in yesterday and I'm calling it "finished" – but it probably isn't. Or is it?

06-06-11a | mixed media

I just like this one below too much not to show it. I thought I'd add details to the orange area embracing the ocean in the top section of the painting. But I don't think it would make the painting any better. I guess it's a bit of a "Nocturne" --just a moody suggestive piece. I like the forest just below the palace. I reminds me of the magical gardens that the prince explores as he follows the Twelve Dancing Princesses as they go to their midnight rendezvous.

06-06-11b | mixed media

05-23-11a

Really folks, it's a doodle. The snake's car is powered by some nuclear rock in the back of his contraption. I draw a lot of these, often as I watch a baseball game on television. It's just the right amount of distraction to produce good flow and I try not to get too attached to the results. Later on I tighten things up, add some watercolor or charcoal and call it a wrap. It's just one of the things I do.

The Blackbirds & The Rover

from my sketchbook (5/10/11)

Once upon a time (maybe it was only yesterday!) a family of strange black birds lived in a desolate rock-strewn desert. The wind blew constantly and the desert froze at night and baked all day. It was like living on the planet Mercury!
Into this desolate place came an explorer searching for curious and shiny things. The bird family was suspicious. However, they became fascinated by the man's fantastic machine. Round wheels hung down and swayed in the wind like ornaments. When they twisted this way and that, they sounded like wind chimes. The wheels softly rumbled and occasionally clanked as it steadily rolled along. It made a music that seemed like a good omen.  They helped him make a map and he played his roving mechanical music box for them.
They traveled together until one day the explorer disappeared into a tall metal thing, clanged a door shut  and exploded. The blackbird family were sad but somehow felt that it would be ok. After all, the explorer had left behind the magical music box car!
The End.

Character Study

An imaginary bird

She's wise but ungainly

Wary and sometimes full of regret

She's intelligent and learns quickly

Did she weave this web and is she caught in it now?
Meet our Cousin Bette!

A little tern story

Easy pickings!

Detectives

 

Off to market!

The bird market

cages

…and what's inside of them

Fast forward!!