The Sparrow

Sparrow
ink, crayon
11-30-14

Patience is a gloveless drawing of complicated tangled branches in the cold sunlight until a sparrow alights and sings a fragment of its song and then flies away.

Below are a few more drawings of small birds.

Yellow Warbler

herons and a dead finch

a baby wren

Robin on its nest

Two Birds

May 21, 2013
charcoal

It's Memorial Day here in the USA. Get outside OK? And say "Thank you!"

I'll be at the parade cheering on the best marching band in Natick and my favorite flutist!

Bonne journée!

Hooded Mergansers

A pair of Common Mergansers
colored pencil
4 February 2013

I spotted these guys yesterday as I walked a long route around the perimeter of the Elm Bank Reservation near my house. In my limited experience, Hooded Mergansers are shy and avoid curious observers like me. But this pair drifted down with the river's current and ignored me. I only had a few minutes to make a drawing. I like how the tree reflections create a strong graphic framework that seems to accentuate the organic, drifting movement of the birds.

More information at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The Sparrow

sketchbook spread: a drawing of a dead bird.
Sept. 23, 2011 colored pencil
© 2011 Rob Dunlavey

detail

On my walk home from the river yesterday, I found a dead sparrow on the side of the road. It had probably flown into the windshield of a passing car. Poor thing.

The sketchbook page had a few quick drawings of a heron I had drawn earlier. I'm working on a children's book that features a sparrow as one of the characters. You can find a few sketches of this character on my other illustration blog.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron at the dam
22 June, 2011 | pencil

I never tire of drawing these stately birds