Isle of May June 23-30th
Puffins at our door step :) ...
The
weather was mostly blissfully sunny with a couple of days shrouded in an
atmospheric sea mist. This offered some respite from capturing the drama of
colour and light. I love an overcast day to focus solely on drawing form,
movement and the behaviour of the birds, since I’m not missing the excitement of
the ever shifting light effects and interplay of colour.
This was my first Puffin painting, I began with an easy target, a dozing Puffin on a rock, after a quick sketch I began another study in oils on canvas sheet, the Puffin despite looking asleep kept shifting on its rock, one eye open at all times.
I enjoyed using oils straight onto paper after making rapid sketches. This was a great way of studying the light on their forms without being too concerned with the end result.
tried to do as much sketching as I could as I hadn't had this kind of opportunity to draw Pufffins before.
I began sketching the Puffins they progressed to oil
on paper then oil on canvas.
This was painted looking down through the rocks to the
sea, I loved the shadow from the sun as lowered in the evening and the warm
glow of the rocks.
This was one of my favourite moments, it had been a
perfectly sunny day and I was pretty tired by this point but the cliffs were
set alight by the setting sun with these beautiful pale purple shadows on the
ledges. The lovely glow of guano! The rich browns of the guillemots were revealed and exaggerated too by the setting sun.
Another incredible evening with the sun going down, I tried
to take a rest beforehand to ready myself for it! I went for capturing the
distant rock, it was low tide and the Guillemots were resting on it until a
large Gull came and landed and off they all went. There would have been many
more on my painting but I suppose the lack of them tells the story!
The very last of the evening
light, I loved this spot on route to the Low Light after an evening
spent at Alterstanes. I enjoyed capturing some of the flight activity which
didn't cease whilst I worked after sundown. I caught a young gull chick on a rock doing their jumping wing flaps!
Oil on paper, guillemot trying to
keep cool in the sun.
I waited until the shadow was at
the angle I wanted before beginning this painting, the water was incredibly
beautiful, the air swarming with sea bird life. I went for a bigger canvas and worked as fast as I could!
The sun was just glowing through the misty cloud during this painting giving a gentle diffused light that gave the Puffin a nice glow. This Puffin kept reappearing in its burrow entrance on the look out.
I devoted much of Friday trying to draw the Guillemots chicks, this took patience as they were often hidden under the wing and quite difficult to see through my scope. I did an oil on paper study of the scene whilst waiting for opportunities to draw the chicks:
I really enjoyed drawing Guillemot leg/feet positions, they cling so well to impossible looking ledges and their feet were so expressive of the varying postures and stances. This was exaggerated even more so on the adorable chicks, when they splayed their large feet out sideways, planted firmly on the ledges as they peered out. They would stretch and edge outwards peering over, but then after a short while they'd turn to face and hug the wall.
Some Guillemot sketches done at Lady's Bed, a very close up spot to work from.
I occasionally snatched some sketches of the Kittiwakes but found myself impatient to get back to studying the Guillemots and Puffins!
A real highlight of the week was on a late evening at Cornerstone, watching and listening out for signs of young guillemots beginning to fledge. A new term was coined: Jumplings! Describing their first leap into the big wide world. The sun had set leaving the colour spectrum across the sky, the dark cliffs silhouetted against this softly coloured backdrop. After much noise and commotion, we watched a chick tumble a couple of times onto nieghbouring guillemot ledges below. Sadly neigbours were not so hospitable and were easily agitated even by a cute little imposter and so the poor chick put up with some grief. The parent Guillemot followed the youngster on its steady and traumatic descent until finally the chick took a small leap, flapping furiously it cleared the cliff and fell down into the darkening sea below! It was joined by both parents. This was by far the most memorable moment observed on the island, witnessing such a critical time in a young guillemots life!
Ringing Puffins!
I'm not used to having so many birds to hand to work from, it was a great privilege to be so close to the seabirds, in and amongst their breeding grounds. The island air has a constant activity of birds in flight and the surrounding sea was dotted with birds. Looking down from the cliffs on a sunny day, the water was clear and Guillemots could be seen swimming under water, their wings and bodies angular and streamlined, darting through like arrows.
It was an intensive week, a kind of drawing and painting marathon! Being on an island offers the great opportunity of following the light around the island over the course of the day. It was an incredible opportunity for developing my art, given the ease of having so many subjects literally at our doorstep. It is so refreshing and revitalising to immerse yourself into the world of wildlife existing simply in a rugged and wild setting.
We did an end of week exhibition in the Light house to share what we'd been up to with all the staff on the island:
It was an intensive week, a kind of drawing and painting marathon! Being on an island offers the great opportunity of following the light around the island over the course of the day. It was an incredible opportunity for developing my art, given the ease of having so many subjects literally at our doorstep. It is so refreshing and revitalising to immerse yourself into the world of wildlife existing simply in a rugged and wild setting.
We did an end of week exhibition in the Light house to share what we'd been up to with all the staff on the island:
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