Thursday, December 28, 2006

Cardinal


Cardinal
Originally uploaded by linfrye.
As I cleaned out two huge craft closets and reorganized and purged various papers and unused items, I came across a December 2002 cover of "Organic Gardening" that featured this cardinal.

Our birdfeeders are filled with these bright, colorful birds and while I had more time to devote to sketching yesterday, decided to try my hand at it.

I'm fairly pleased with the results, though I prefer a more 'painterly' approach. Still, I learned a lot by practicing another method and now will have one of these pretty birds in my journal to commemorate the winter and cheer the bleak grey of the landscape.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I've missed so much here because Christmas intervened! We have lots of cardinals at the birdfeeder outside our bedroom window, too. I am always shocked by their beauty. And I've been inspired by your tales of cleaning. Right now my house looks like a hurricane blew through, but that is, I hope, a stage along the way to tidiness. (My husband hopes so, too ;D.) Wonderful cardinal sketch, cara! Not everything has to be painterly.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful sketch. I find birds hard to draw; you've captured him so well!

Anonymous said...

Excellent job on the feathers. Very nice shadings and highlights - he "looks" like winter fluff!

Anonymous said...

Buon giorno, cara! I have a rare moment to do a little bit of catch up on my favourite Blogs. Today we were up in the mountains for a family feast.
I lve your Cardinal! Cardinals are one of my favourite birds, yet I've never seen a real one. Your drawing is actually delightful!
Auguri per l'Anno Nuovo!

Ciao!

Lorraine said...

I simply cannot draw or paint a bird except for making a simple inverted V!! LOL Your detail is really really good Lin. And the color so true to form. We have Cardinals in the tree out front and they are so gorgeous.
Well done!
Lorraine

Teri said...

You have captured the brightness and beauty of this cardinal so well.

Love the happy photos of the grands.

Terri said...

Those birds must be stunning to see in real life. This is a lovely drawing Lin. I love the feathery detail you've achieved. Beautiful. :o)

Anonymous said...

Lin, i think birds are so hard to draw, and feathers, like hair on people, is something i would rather avoid altogether! This one is great. The different hues of red give it volume and realism.

Anonymous said...

Lovely cardinal. These birds always make me smile. As of yesterday we now have winter goldfinches, too. And we've had, a winter, sharp shinned hawk feeding on the birds at our feeder. Interesting survival of the fittest sort of thing.

Anonymous said...

This is stunning! Great work!

Donn said...

WOW! Such a lovely drawing. You captured everything so nicely.
The Cardinal is one of my favorite birds.

Anonymous said...

It must be wonderful to see such bright birds as cardinals. All I see around here are little brown guys. This one has such personality! I had to stop feeding the birds because the dropped seed was feeding and encouraging the breeding of super mice.

Anonymous said...

Lin---I love your cardinal. That speaks so much of Christmas to me.....we moved to Washington state from Texas 11 years ago and the only cardinals I've seen are the ones back home when we visit! Good job!--Carol C.

Anonymous said...

great job on the cardinal! I'm so envious that you have these beauties flying around! I saw them one, in Tulsa, outside a kitchen window, and I still remember how amazed I was.
Happy New Year, dear Lin!!