Chaffinch Couple

Here’s my illustration that I made for Valentine’s Day! I went for a pair of Chaffinches since I’ve been seeing them a lot in the garden lately, and I also thought the Male’s pink plumage fit in very well with the holiday!

I’m particularly happy with how their faces came out and how the pencil scribbles make them look fluffy. The branches they sit on were drawn very roughly and quickly since I wanted the focus to be on the birds so I do think it looks a little scruffy now, perhaps I would give them some nicer perches if I were to revisit this one.

I also experimented with adding some colour in a similar style that I’ve been painting my landscape skies, which you can see here. I do like how they look fully coloured, and in the various colour-ways I made to represent different kinds of couples, but I think that black and white illustrations will always be my favourite!

Singing Song Thrush

I’ve been playing around with an oracle deck project recently and I’ve been enjoying sketching up some ideas for each of the card prompts.

I though this Song Thrush singing his heart out would be a very sweet interpretation for the word, “Expression”. The Oracle deck is still in the early phase of being created so doesn’t have a name yet, but it seems to have a bit of a Hedgewitch theme so far. It features a lot of creatures and plants that I find around me so it’s proving to be a lovely exercise to pull me deeper into connecting with my new home in the Brecon Beacons, and also how this all impacts my spiritual practice too!

Bullfinch Sketchbook Study

Here’s a sketchbook spread featuring some Bullfinch study sketches, I also doodled a particularly nice looking tree that’s near my home and some moon phases. I haven’t seen any Bullfinches yet while I’ve been birdwatching here in the Brecon Beacons but I hope I will have them visit the garden sometime this spring. I would occasionally spot them in our Wiltshire garden and it was always such a treat to see them and their lovely pink chests!