Sketching at the Fairbanks Museum

Here is a quick sketch from my summer class. This is the King Tody at the Fairbanks Museum. 

Sketching Class (This is Not a Yak)

Yesterday, I started teaching my week long intensive sketching class. This summer we are focusing on animal studies. For the afternoon, I took the class to the Fairbanks Museum. This is a great place to start as it is a natural history museum with a large collection of taxidermy animals. Although, I was impressed with the classes work and had a wonderful time helping them I struggled with doing anything that I felt was good.

This is not a yak. I started the day really wanting to tackle the Yak, but every attempt left me frustrated. I never realized drawing a yak could be so difficult. By the end of the day I managed to have a few sketches of other animals I was pleased with. This bee-eater is one of them.

Even when you are not feeling good about drawing and struggling with it you need to push through until it works. Now I have the challenge of figuring out how to draw a yak.

Day five of the Birds

Kestrel (ˈkestrəl)

This is the last of my Fairbanks Museum sketches of Birds from this past summers sketching class. 

Bird #4

Shrike (SHrīk)

Another sketch from my summer sketching class at the Fairbanks Museum. The shrike is songbird that is also called Butcherbird because of its strong sharp hooked bill. It sounds beautiful but is deadly to small birds, lizards, and insects.

Bird Number Three

Parakeet (ˈparəˌkēt)

Another sketch from my day at the Fairbanks Museum.

It's National Bow Tie Day!

As part of national Bow Tie Day, I am starting my next wave of Bow Tie Guys. Now through the end of September, I will be posting at least six Bow Tie Birds a week.

Today it is the Blue Jay. I drew this while at the Fairbanks Museum this past summer and recently colored it in.

If you have a particular bird you want me to give the bow tie treatment let me know.

Day 9 of 31 Creature Bow Ties (IF Mirror)

Gargoyles (ˈgärˌgoils)

One of the places I love to go and draw is the Fairbanks Museum in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont. These two gargoyles are above the entrance to the museum. I added the bow ties, glasses and sweater vest. As they are mirroring each other I thought they would be a good addition to Illustrations Friday's word mirror. 

IF Sight (sketching at the Fairbanks Museum)

As part of the sketching class I am teaching we visited the Fairbanks Museum in St Johnsbury VT. They have a wonderful selection of taxidermic animals that are wonderful to draw. It is great practice and warms them up to sketching from life when everything is moving. Inevitably all the animals I draw their end up with bow ties, glasses and sweater vests. The owl seemed to screech “sight”