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Sunday, March 19, 2017

New Pastel Pencil Drawing Of A Vulture


Hi!

As I've said many times before I love sketching birds—and for some reason am "drawn" to the odd, (perhaps) uglier ones—although I think this actually makes them beautiful in their own way.

I found an awesome looking BLUE vulture photo on Pixabay — a site that posts images under a creative commons license which allow the free use of them.

It's a good place to find images for artistic reference and I've collected a couple of folders on my computer of images from Pixabay and Pexels—another "cc" image site.

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In my last couple of posts—I mentioned that I bought some pastels pencils and a couple of different sketchbooks with grey paper and have been having a good time learning how best to use those new tools.

Faber-Castel FC112136 PITT Pastel Pencils In A Metal Tin (36 Pack), Assorted

I've found it rejuvenating at a time when I was feeling a little stagnate—just using white paper and graphite pencils for sketching—as I've been doing for many, many years now.

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Even though it's a bit expensive these days—I frequently go out to various restaurants and coffee houses and work there.

The upside is that it attracts some attention from those around me and I get to talk with a lot of interesting people.

I get so many encouraging comments as well—especially lately for the pastel color-work I'm doing—and that's a big plus too.

: )

Anywho—I thought I'd share another pastel I finished yesterday—and a related pencil sketch from a while back.

"Polly" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved
"Polly" - Copyright 2017 - Jephyr - All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ ^  I'm not sure what kind of vulture this guy is—but he was blue in the photo reference I used too.

I love how it looks like he's wearing some kind of feather coat or something (and looks completely focused on finding his next meal).

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Funny story about the pastel above:  Today I was working on another new pastel at a Chinese restaurant—and apparently my waitress told the other staff there that I was an artist—and soon I had a steady stream of people who worked there coming over to see what I was up to.

I was showing one young server—who spoke very broken English—some of my other pastels—and when I got to the one above—she reached out her hand a rubbed her fingers across it before I could stop her.

I was a bit horrified—until I saw she didn't damage it—but I'll need to tell people in the future—up front—not to touch the pastels!  

: )

Pencil Sketch: Wack-A-Doodle-Do — Copyright 2017 — Jephyr — All Rights Reserved
Pencil Sketch: Wack-A-Doodle-Do — Copyright 2017 — Jephyr — All Rights Reserved

^ ^ ^ ^   One night last December I was sketching with Valen and came up with this wacky guy—began as a scribble sketch.

I showed it to Valen and he and I both agreed it was a little more over the top than most of what I do.

When I finished the vulture pastel above—I remembered this sketch—and since he's "vulture-like"—I decided to post them together.

Looking at him today I think I might want to do a color version with the pastel pencils—but time will tell if I get to that.

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Well—that's it for today.

As always—I appreciate you stopping by.

Hope to see you again soon.





4 comments:

  1. Hi Jephyr,
    interesting post, I love that blue vulture. When you talk about beauty and ugliness, I have always seen the beauty of any creature or human through the eyes. If you cover the eyes over on your vulture - it is a totally different picture to when you reveal the eyes. I think he is beautiful.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Brenda and thank you as always. I agree about eyes and often begin any picture of a face with them — and love when they "start to come alive" as I add high-lights etc.

      BTW—it seems the blue vulture above is called a "Cinereous Vulture." They feed on carrion and like other vultures they were created with few feathers on their heads because they tend to poke them into what ever they are feeding on — and it makes it easier to clean themselves up afterward. The Cinereous Vultures are quite big too — with an 8-10 ft wingspan and they can weigh up to 25 lbs!!!

      Thanks again Brenda and God Bless!!

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    2. Thank you for sharing that Jephyr,
      when I look at the diversity of creation and how each has been fashioned I have to say 'It is a fool who says 'There is no God'.

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    3. I definitely see God's handiwork when I look at all of His beautiful creation. I spent a lot of 2015 taking photos and time-lapse of sunsets and the night sky and moon — and photographing all kinds of critters at a nearby preserve and at the zoo etc. For me — I stand amazed at the beauty of this world and it points my spirit right back to God! Thanks as always for commenting Brenda. God Bless you!

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