Right in the middle of clearing one end of my studio to display work for Art Trek open studios last week, I was given a young dead Rook that had been killed on the road. Too big to be stored alongside the Thrush and Bullfinch currently in my freezer, I had to struggle to make time to sketch him but as always with drawing, I felt much the better for it.
A juvenile Rook looks a lot like a Carrion Crow, and so is difficult to identify, but the colour of the beak and shape of the head, suggests that this is a young Rook. Unexpectedly majestic close up; Victorian Gothic black plumage with iridescent purple highlights; dusty brown downy back feathers; slate grey beak and, on the sides and underside of the beak, slashes of pale pink...
Bank holiday sketching...
Right handed...
Photographed progress of the sketch.
If you happen to be in North Devon next weekend, please drop by my studio (looking fantastically tidy) and say hello! Second and final weekend for Art Trek open studios with Jacqueline Leighton Boyce, Judith Westcott and Mary Melling.
...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.
A juvenile Rook looks a lot like a Carrion Crow, and so is difficult to identify, but the colour of the beak and shape of the head, suggests that this is a young Rook. Unexpectedly majestic close up; Victorian Gothic black plumage with iridescent purple highlights; dusty brown downy back feathers; slate grey beak and, on the sides and underside of the beak, slashes of pale pink...
Bank holiday sketching...
Right handed...
Photographed progress of the sketch.
If you happen to be in North Devon next weekend, please drop by my studio (looking fantastically tidy) and say hello! Second and final weekend for Art Trek open studios with Jacqueline Leighton Boyce, Judith Westcott and Mary Melling.
...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.
