Kite sketch - Maree

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
- John Benfield

Sketching has always been one of my great passions, but of late I've been neglecting it in favour of doing mostly watercolours. I've decided to go back to basics and sketch a lot more. Sketching forces you to look in more detail, and ask yourself what you actually see. You’ll end up seeing a lot more than you would otherwise. There’s something about holding a pen or pencil in your hand that gets your creative juices flowing in a much different way than holding a brush. When you get used to sketching, the movements of your hand become much more fluid and it becomes really easy and natural. The more you practice, the better you will become at sketching.

A Charcoal sketch of a Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus), a common, grey and white raptor in South Africa with a black shoulder, done in my Moleskine large sketch-book.These beautiful little birds (they're not much bigger than a pigeon) often sit on the telephone lines outside our property and to watch them hovering over a field when they've seen some dinner is one of my greatest pleasures.

Butterfly time

Arctic Blue on Shooting Star, photo reference used with permission of Sharon Wander

For several years, I’ve done volunteer artwork in the form of a black and white drawing for the North American Butterfly Association’s annual count report. Most of my drawings have been done from my own reference photos coupled with personal observation, but this year I used a reference drawing from a photo taken by the count report editor, Sharon Wander. I did this in charcoal and ink on coquille board. I guess I was in the mood to learn about a new butterfly and a new medium!

All of the knowledge I learned from drawing butterflies in the past came into play for this one since I didn’t have the luxury of seeing this in person. In a way, it made me especially attentive to the similarities and differences the Arctic Blue has to our Florida butterflies.

I thought I’d share this with you since summertime is butterfly time for many of us. If you’d like to learn more about the North American Butterfly Association (NABA), go online to their website.