Common Linnets - Oosterschelde

 

During our walks along the shoreline of the Oosterschelde (Netherlands) we walked along some 'inlays' that were formed in areas where a break in the dyke was possible. A new dyke was made a bit more inland and the area between both dykes sometimes got flooded, sometimes stayed mostly dry land. These 'inlays' are now valuable and varied spots of nature, protected so we are only allowed to see them from the dykes that surround them.

One of those 'inlays' has a lot of breeding birds and at one place there is a birdwatcher's spot where we could look at the activity on the small (artificial) islands in the water. As it was springtime when we walked there, we had a lot to look at.

We were on the dyke and could not only see the water, but also the top of the bushes and small trees that were growing underneath the dyke in the protected area. These branches were frequented by some small birds and I asked my husband (who had the camera) to make some (reference) pictures. It was not easy, as the birds did not stay in one place for a long time, but he got me some nice pictures. 

One of the birds had been sitting there for some time, the other had just arrived and was arranging his (or her) feathers before settling for a rest. The background of the reference pictures is the water behind the dyke and the sunlit branches with the birds were standing out perfectly.

At first we thought - guided by the sound of skylarks - that these were the birds in the picture, but we were wrong. After comparing our picture with some references in books we concluded that these are common linnets. That is still special for us, as these small birds are not easily found where we live.

For this drawing I made a background in watercolour, because  that is the best way in which I could create the illusion of calm water in the background of the scene. Because I have used cellulose-based paper, I could not make my background as dark as the water looked in the reference pictures. Adding more layers of paint to that quality of paper only results in picking up all the paint that was already there and leaving white paper instead of a nice dark colour.

The branches and the birds are drawn with water-soluble pencils. Because the background ended up lighter than I hoped it would be, I had to make the branches darker than they were in the reference to stand out. My white pencil was not very visible on this background as it would be on a darker one. 

While making this mixed media drawing I changed and adapted my initial plans several times, depending on the results I got in each step of the process.

I did not apply any water on the drawing of the branches, as they are not the subject of my work. Only the drawings of the birds are 'activated' with a little water, so the colours would come to life. The result is what I hoped it to be.

The information about the paper, paints and pencils I have used, the size, the price and availability of this work can all be found in my Tumblr blog.