The Heron

The water is low in the river so that means that the Great Blue Heron is active and always somewhere nearby. Flocks of ducks dabble in the riffles and preen on top of the dam. It's like old times!

Soon, it'll be hurricane season and who knows what will happen!

A Great Blue Heron seen through an arch
charcoal, rainwater
09-13-13

Great Blue Heron silhouette below the dam
charcoal
09-17-13

Great Blue Heron hunting at the base of the dam
colored pencil
09-17-13

Midsummer

Bastille Day 2013

The heat wave continues and it's been hard to get motivated to get out and sketch. But then a few days go by and I feel like I've lost touch with the passage of the season. It's summer, with a vengeance.

The river is at seasonably low water levels. The floods are over for the time being. Rocks are visible and rapids and yesterday I saw a young family of mallards dabbling near the island as in seasons past. It was nice and reminded me of old times.

Mallard and ducklings
07-18-13
colored pencil

As I sat on the park bench and drew this small family, I was surprised by a young raccoon who approached me from the bushes near the river. He seemed to have just remembered the not-quite-licked-clean food container that someone had left by the bench the day before. We chatted and the masked animal scuttled off bewildered no doubt.

The sun effects us all. A few days before this encounter, as I was walking to the dam after dinner I spied (or nearly tripped over!) a large family of skunks. The nine kits were sniffing and jostling about in some bushes very close the road. They tumbled one over the other and made low chortling trills. Their mother was nervously waiting and scolding them from the foundation plantings of a house. I warned the oncoming traffic of the skunk peril and the drivers slowed down and smiled. I even tossed a few pebbles and sticks to warn the exuberant babies back in the direction of Mom and safety.  That must have been Sunday, Bastille Day and the moon floating high above the park next to the river.

The herons are hunting again now that the water level is lower.

A view of the South Natick Dam
07-11-13
chalk

Another view of the dam from about the same spot. You can see the rocks emerging from the shallows below the dam.
07-18-13

The canicule will break briefly this weekend. That may bring some thunderstorms. I'll be traveling though. I hope it doesn't seriously alter my plans. And I hope you have a peaceful and relaxing weekend too.

The End of Summer

Enjoy the end of the summer. It's a long period of low light, busy birds, singing crickets and school buses.

Novelty

I'm working in a smaller sketchbook right now. It's about 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches tall (rather than the larger black books). It's okay but it requires an adjustment; I tend to jot a bit more in it instead of making "compositions". For artists, scale is everything and sometimes it takes an effort to get the same creative flow at different sizes. Why is this?

It's because Art is made by fingers which are attached to hands which are attached to arms that are part of a human body. Each link in the chain and change in the kinesthetic causes different kinds of marks. The body becomes another medium and another tool. Did you know that?

It's good to try different approaches. I do this not just to keep loose but also because I like the surprises that a new method of working fosters. Some of my best brushes cannot be bought in store: they are old and decrepit and missing many bristles. My best paper is in an ever growing pile of castoffs and things saved from the garbage man. Paints come from yard sales and people too tired and uninspired to paint anymore. The downside of all this rag picking is that once I use some orphaned thing up, I can't replace it because its provenance is lost in the intertwined destinies of strangers, their attendant objects and my magpie self.

So there you have it: today's little quick sermon on what it's like for this artist trying to sort things out. And below are some mallards and things from the river that flows near my house. All done in that small sketchbook.

sketch of mallard and a heron

two mallards near a cascade

one lone mallard duck

Canada Goose standing on top of the dam, preening

an arch of the Pleasant Street Bridge

A hard-to-see example of my fanciful work.
See more on my posterus.com blog

The Hungry Heron

This Great Blue Heron was feeding just below the dam. Imagine, his ears are filled with the white noise of the cascade and it has to tip its head this way and that to see the fish in the river. While one eye peers into the swirling water the other is glaring skyward --here he's saw a few people just above at the railing at the top of the retaining wall and has craned his neck to get a better look.

Sometimes he gets spooked and swoops over to the small island in the middle of the river below the dam. But this time he was agitated and returned quickly to hunting. Soon he had a small bluegill in his beak. This fish was a manageable size that was soon on its way, still wiggling, down his long throat. Then it was time to retreat to the island for digestion and drying out.

On the island, the Great Blue Heron flares out its wings to dry and warm up and imitates a statue of a heron. 

several studies of the heron
(graphite, conté pencil)

quick studies of the heron
(graphite, conté pencil)

Great Blue Heron, South Natick, MA May 23, 2012
(charcoal, conté pencil)

Here's a quick sketch of the Great Blue Heron using the water

and the natural buoyancy of the fish to position it in his mouth.

I came to the dam today and the heron was back at work. Maybe this will be his summer hunting ground.

When I approached, he flew over to the safety of the island but was soon prowling the currents in the middle of the river. A mother and her young child observed from the railing. After they left to look for frogs and turtles, the heron caught a truly large fish; a bass or trout that must have been 12-14 inches long. Somehow, it managed to position the fish just so and in one long protracted gulp, swallowed it. It looked a little stunned as gravity allowed breakfast to slide down to the harsh chemical factory that is a heron's stomach.

Because of some driftwood lodged at the top of the dam this Spring, an eddy has formed at the base of the dam. Fish congregate here before attempting to scale the dam. If the heron doesn't eat them all, a few will discover the fish ladder (in the background) and spawn further upstream.

(charcoal, conté pencil)

Hello Stranger!

A Great Blue Heron at the South Natick Dam
13 April, 2012

I spotted my first heron of the year at the dam this morning. It was sunny and cold. The river, having been warmed by yesterday's rain, was covered by a shifting layer of fog being pushed around by the breeze just above the water's surface. I settled on the retaining wall and took a sip of my coffee. I looked up and there was a  heron, "plain as the nose on your face", behind the island facing the dam. He stayed just long enough for me to open my sketchbook and draw the outlines of the rocks, his bony angular neck and and dagger-like bill. I spent the next 45 minutes trying to get the other details of the scene right.

The water is low. There are already long tendrils of algae clinging to the barely submerged boulders. Sticks and tree branches are stuck at the top of the dam. If we ever we get a spring deluge, they will be swept downriver. Last week I spoke to a fisherman who caught some small brook trout. He complained about the algae and blamed it on the suburban mania for green lawns and fertilizer. The vernal pools in the forest at the end of Front St. are dry so the spring peepers (frogs) are subdued  But it has also been cool so the flowering trees have held onto their glory a bit longer. You take the good with the bad I guess. Still, it makes me anxious about the summer… how dry will it get?

detail

detail

detail

The color in these images is a bit off as you can probably tell. The sketchbook is too big to scan so I take a snapshot under incandescent light early in the morning (hence the yellow and bluish illumination).

The Interview

photo: Ken McGagh

An article about me and my sketching appeared in the newspaper the other day. During the interview they took some pictures and video and we got to sit by the river on a beautiful sunny day and talk about Art for an hour or more. Not bad work if you can get it!
Thanks to Metrowest Daily News reporter Chris Bergeron for taking an interest in me and my work!

I drew this view of the dam a day after the hurricane passed through town. The water's too swift for dabbling ducks but the heron  would magically appear, grab a fish and magically disappear to a hidden place  to swallow his meal.
08-29-11 colored pencil
© 2011 Rob Dunlavey

08-29-11, colored pencil
© 2011 Rob Dunlavey

Great Blue Heron

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

I never tire of drawing these stately birds

Great Blue Heron

A truly magnificent Great Blue Heron hunting at the face of the dam

I saw this beautiful bird at the dam yesterday after biking home from Needham. The world was very shiny. The sun was glorious. There were Constable clouds gliding this way and that in the sky. A few families were having picnics in the park. The water was rushing over the dam and creating a wonderful soothing din. And there was this pristine, well-coifed heron standing up to the torrent seeking its lunch.  Just gorgeous like a stately supermodel. The brilliant noonday sun casting his oval shadow on the rushing foam below.

Try to get outside people. It's officially Summer this week!

Below the Dam

The island below the dam, June 5, 2011

Here's a hurried sketch of the river just below the dam. I had about 40 minutes before I had to get to a family commitment last Sunday morning. Sometimes that pressure is a good thing in order to prioritize what should be included and what gets left out in a drawing. It's no masterpiece but I feel good because I worked on this challenging 180º view of the bridge, island and dam (I ended up distorting the size of the island. Oh well, there's always next time).

Swifts and a heron below the dam, June 12, 2011

A view from about the same spot only looking up toward the face of the dam drawn yesterday afternoon. Several days of intermittent rain had ended long enough for a flock of swifts to feast on the newly emergent mosquitoes and other insects. A Great Blue Heron in his "sniper's nest" just below the dam. In the 45 minutes of drawing, the heron moved out across the face of the dam then flew off downriver. There have been no mallard or goose families here yet. I wonder when they will move back in?

They're back!

A Great Blue Heron feeding below the South Natick Dam
17 May, 2011
ball point pen, watercolor

The ups and downs of late Summer

the lily pool and fountain, Elm Bank

© Rob Dunlavey

About a week ago, on a very hot and still morning, I headed out a bit later than usual in the morning and made this sketch at the decrepit Cheney-Baltzell mansion at Elm Bank. My soft green pencil dented the soft paper of my sketchbook as I drew. The humidity made the paper even softer. Eventually, the darn scene got drawn. Why? Why??



I guess I get some weird pleasure in representing things, more or less, as they are before my gaze. It's also a way of possessing something that I see often but yet when I see it each time, it's like it's new and never before seen. Drawing helps the neurons line up a little more amourously when I see that familiar thing again. I think the test if this is true is when I turn my attention to the faces of the people I love. And when is that likely to happen?



Here are a few more monochromatic renderings of things seen around my neighborhood. It has been a fabulous pleasure returning to the river and all these familiar haunts over the summer. I've gotten acquainted with the animals, the water's flow and the light. If you like to draw, I can't recommend it enough.

looking downstream near the bridge, heron and mallards
(© Rob Dunlavey)

reflections at the top of the dam
(© Rob Dunlavey)

Low Flow

The flow in the river is very low now and only portions of the dam's face are covered with flowing water. This allows the hungry ducks to scramble up and down the exposed cement and glean the tasty green weeds and slime that grow there.
The low water also seems to attract children. While I drew this picture a bunch of them scrambled over an expanse of exposed rocks and gravel to the island (not included in this drawing) and explored. They startled a Little Green Heron and brought back memories of something wild …and maybe some poison ivy too :-(

Observations

There is still one family of ducks that has stayed near the island below the dam. I guess it's reasonable to assume that the small island offers enough protection from predators (Which: turtles? large fish?). The proof is in the pudding: this mother and her brood of nine ducklings continue to explore and dabble in the pools and riffles of the river. A few weeks ago I studied a family with a dozen young but I haven't seen them since they went downstream below the arched bridge.

This group surprised me actually. I had become engrossed in drawing a heron and was alone with my thoughts when the duck family splashed into view. If you just sit still for a while and mind your business, you never know what you might be privileged to see.

The heron was graceful and comical. Without any regard for me, it gingerly stalked from rock to rock, at times carefully feeling the bottom of the riverbed. It positioned itself before a little "chute" of moving water and was soon eying the flow for fishy morsels. In quick succession, two small fish were caught and swallowed whole. These, of course quickly followed by a drink of water to wash it down (I wonder how long the fish live as they slide down that long heron throat… at times like this I'm glad I'm not a fish!). Eventually, he caught a larger fish and I observed the eating process again. I'll spare you the details but it does seem more difficult than actually catching the fish!

Here's a larger view of my heron sketch.

Getting Focused

There's a theme here, no?

Yes, here we are back at the dam on the Charles River a few minutes walk from my home. Two months ago, it was a raging torrent and me and my dear sketchbook would have been rudely swept out to Boston Harbor and the icy gray Atlantic Ocean beyond. But this day the water was well-behaved and it sparkled in the early morning sun.

Fisherman wade up and down here and catch things. Fathers and sons practice the ancient art. I used to fish with my daughter here and other nearby places. She was quite eager and ardent about it. Of course, I had the unenviable job of "preparing" the worms, impaling them on the hook and, if we got lucky, removing the hapless fish from the hook and tossing it back in (where it often jumped back on the hook!).

What I fish for is less problematic and messy:

Here are a few other pages from this sketchbook:

The thing with the bottle caps is my mbira. It was made by Newton Gwara in Zimbabwe and was given to me by my friend Solomon Murungu who is a very good mbira player. It makes beautiful music that seems to go with the rushing rippling river. Maybe I have an example somewhere for you: "Walk On By" [mp3 file]. This is my own lame little song; listen to Solomon's cd if you desire the real thing (and you should!)

I blogged about this heron previously. I like his style of fishing: slow and graceful, highly evolved and a bit comical. I've never  seen an overweight heron; have you? I guess they eat pretty well.

---