Peregrine Falcon Watercolor in Tennessee Conservationist Magazine

When I submit an article to the Tennessee Conservationist Magazine, published by the TN Dept. of Environment and Conservation, I never know which photos will actually go into the article.  I send a good selection and the editor makes the final decision. Whenever possible, I include a watercolor of the bird that is the subject of my article but it is not a given that it will be published.  I was delighted to see that my watercolor, "Peregine Falcon", was included in the article that spanned five pages, and that the article also  captured the cover headline!

This watercolor began with a sketch that you see below, a practice to help wrap my mind around the shapes and expression that is characteristic of this incredible falcon. I had recently encountered a falconer showing this species on my trip to Alaska at the Sandhill Crane festival in Fairbanks, giving me a great opportunity to observe the bird up-close and take some reference photos.

The Peregrine Falcon's recovery in North America is one of the greatest conservation stories in our nation's history.  After the bird's devastating decline, largely due to the widespread use of DDT after WWII, the USFWS reported that there were only 324 confirmed pairs of breeding Peregrine Falcons nesting in all of North America.   

In Tennessee, breeding Peregrine Falcons had disappeared by 1947 and it wasn't until 50 years later that Peregrine Falcons were again discovered breeding in the state.

In the images below you can see how I approached this painting.  The sky was created by wetting the paper around the falcon and applying ultramarine blue to the wet paper leaving plenty of white for clouds.

As I often do, I put some detail in the face as I worked on the feather details.  I do this to make the subject come alive and add energy to the project while I work.  At other times, the additional detail gives me more of an idea of how the finished painting will look and helps guide my color application and lights and darks.  

Below, I begin to work on the rock surface where the Peregrine is perched.  I did not have a specific reference for the rocks but did look at rock treatments by other artists to give me some ideas.  I used warm colors to describe the boulder to balance the grays and blues in the bird.  For the boulder detail, I followed the lines of paint to shape a natural rock surface.

To finish, I added more definition and shadow to the feathers, sharper lines and individual definition to the rocks, and added some tufts of grass.  (See finished painting at top).  The Peregrine Falcon was one of the first species added to the endangered species list in 1973 and was finally removed in 1999.  In 2012, the USFWS reported that from 2000-3000 breeding pairs of Peregrine Falcons could be found in North America.

Links and Resources:
TN Conservationist Magazine--The Peregrine Falcon in Tennessee

Winter Delights--Yellow-rumped Warblers

Winter is a special time for watching birds.  For one thing, bare limbs make birds easy to see.  And for the second, you often get to see birds that you don't having during the warm breeding season.  In Tennessee, Yellow-rumped Warblers are one of those birds.

They breed in northern states and Canada, so we only get to see them while they're migrating or if you're lucky, when they chose your yard for their wintering grounds.  I have been so lucky this year.  Above you see a sketch I made of one of these warblers frequently seen hopping around under the feeders, and for the first time, I saw one sitting on my sunflower feeder picking up seeds.

More normally seen flittering around in evergreens eating insects and grubs, its always a surprise to find one sitting still enough to capture a photo.  But this winter season, I've been fortunate to see them frequently and engaged in a number of foraging activities.

They are what I call "my favorite bird of the week".  It is impossible to watch their busy personalities without wanting to capture that distinctive attitude in a sketch. While perched on that feeder, this warbler gave sharp warning chirps to the other birds and chased away even the tufted titmice that happened to land on the feeder.

Above, after feeding on the ground and in the flower pots for a while, this warbler seemed to respond to the warmth of the sun and began to maneuver all around the trunk and limbs of the hemlock appearing to be finding insects or grubs.

To see more images of the yellow-rumped warblers visiting this winter click here.
And to see what's been keeping me busy and away from blogging in the past few months, visit the new expanded version of the Discovery Birds Activity Book--36 pages and 75 illustrations!

Keeping the Wild in Your Heart

I have had three wonderful opportunities recently to work with other artists on projects that required more than one kind of artistic talent.  The first was my Red-shouldered Hawk Territory book, a rewarding project involving a talented layout person and another artist who coordinated the printing.   (visit the link for more details)

The second was our Hummingbird Festival bookmark that was part of an advertising campaign for our 2012 Hummingbird Festival organized by our bird club at Ijams Nature Center as a fund raiser.   The beautiful book mark layout and printing was conceived and coordinated by another talented artist.  (visit the link for more details.)

In my most recent experience I was asked to create "muddy water" that was bubbling as though a turtle was diving into it.  And in a second painting, create a more detailed rendition of a Red-eared slider.  Above and below you can see these two paintings before they were converted into the beautiful exhibit panel they eventually became.  The muddy water was created on a 22 x 30 sheet of watercolor paper, and the turtle below it, on a half sheet, 22 x 14 inches.

Pam Petko-Seus, of Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville, is the talented artist who conceived of this exhibit panel for the Center's Red-slider turtle exhibit, and Colin Hoffman, another exceptional artist at High Resolutions, was able to take Pam's ideas and make them into an exhibit panel aimed at teaching children and adults how to take care of our wild turtles--loving and admiring them without disturbing them.  

My job seemed the easiest to me!  

  

And here are some of the important facts that people should know when tempted to take a wild animal home with them:  

• Capturing wild animals often threatens species survival in natural habitats and disrupts delicate ecosystems.
• Wild animals spread disease.
• Captive breeding does not take the wild out of wildlife.
• Former pets rarely survive when returned to the wild.
• Many animals are sold illegally, especially on the internet.
• It is illegal in the state of Tennessee to possess native wildife without a proper permit. [This may be true in other states, as well.]

Upcoming:
One of My favorite Books:  Drawing and Painting Birds
I'm Getting Ready for Alaska!

Vickie Henderson's Art Featured in Nooga.com

My art is featured in a lovely article written by Jenni Frankenberg Veal for the June 3rd Lifestyle section of the Chattanooga online newspaper, Nooga.com. 

Jenni, whose free lance writings specialize in family outdoor activities and articles on conservation, makes regular contributions to Nooga.com, a local news website focused on the Chattanooga area in east Tennessee.

Red-shouldered Hawk Territory--The Treasure in the Experience

Sometimes we search for the wild in nature and travel to places where we'll likely find the species we're eager to meet.  Other times the wild comes to us quite unexpectedly.

This was the case with a pair of red-shouldered hawks I encountered in a suburban yard while attending a meeting in the spring of 2009.  Not just one hawk, mind you, but a pair of them, moving around within close range, vocalizing loudly as I walked down the driveway to where my parked car waited on the curb.  That they made themselves so visible and apparent was beyond my comprehension.  And for someone like me, who loves birds, especially raptors, that accessibility equated to an invitation to learn more about their lives and their adaptation to suburban activities in their territory.

Above you see two image I took as I watched the male in the pair hunt on our third encounter.  Gorgeous birds that both hunt from a perch and on the ground, flipping leaves, listening and watching for movement, and  blending in with the environment. The fact that this species of hawk is very vocal, makes observations even more delightful.  Though their color and patterns allow them to disappear in the wooded habitat they prefer, sooner or later a loud call will alert you to their presence. The suburban location, this chance encounter, their adaptation to human presence and activity, all came together to allow me opportunity to witness the most intimate of moments with this pair.  And those moments included nesting, copulation, nuptial feedings, plucking fresh evergreen sprays for the nest, and even seeing the bare pink flesh of the female's brood patch through my camera's lens.

From a surprise introduction to completed sketches, to the beautiful printed sketchbooks that arrived this week, this was a memorable journey I will always treasure.  All I could say when I held one of these books in my hand was "wow!"

I'm a person who loves books, the books with a spine and pages you can leaf through, the ones you curl up with in a comfortable chair.  I think they are precious.  I love reading them, writing them, and, I love sketching and creating them.

The making of a book brings other skills to bear and can make an artist dig deeper to realize this goal.  This endeavor is one of determined cooperation and negotiation, as much about patience, communication, and team work, as the artistic vision that conceived the idea and moved the project forward.   And now I've found the right team (see links and resources).  The book is beautiful, so life-like in its replication of the sketchbook itself, that it's hard to tell the difference between the original book and it's mirror in print.    

And that makes me smile.  It is the greatest hurdle you go through in printing art in any form.  And this book is about art and nature, about observing and capturing what you've observed in words and drawings, and about learning what your subject has to teach you, even the parts you are not allowed to know.

It's a tiny book, by book standards, replicating the size of the sketchbook, but enormous in heart and inspiration.  I look back on this endeavor--the observing of hawks, most secretive and illusive of creatures--and wonder at the energy and patience that got me through this season of observation.  That I could sit in the shade of a gazebo, and watch their activity as though I were a plant in the garden, astounded me from the beginning.

The observations you see in the book took dedication, the commitment to sit through non-activity hours, make regular visits a priority, the ability to remain still until my subjects appeared and to use my creative mind and curiosity to withstand lulls in activity.  Waiting for the chance to see a hawk and watch its behavior, now that might be an activity some would call a waste of time.  The thought crossed my mind more than once.  But even the wait can be an act of labor, something that keeps you deeply rooted to the project and makes you as determined as ever to see it through.

Creating art is not an activity for the faint of heart.  It challenges you inside and out, especially when that art is focused on something real, and alive and moving, and unpredictable.  You, the artist, are the same, alive, moving,  unpredictable.  But you have trained yourself to be still, knowing what treasures are found while remaining invisible.  And just when you think you might evaporate into nothingness with the waiting, a hawk appears, opens your heart and heightens all your senses.  And a sketch is born, a visual story of all that you've taken in.  Into your heart the hawk flies, and out through your hand and onto the paper.  

This is the essence of Red-shouldered Hawk Territory, A sketchbook journey through nesting season--the story of one season's natural wonder through the heart and hand of an artist.  I hope it inspires you to pick up a sketchbook and let your own story unfold.  

For more details about this sketchbook and to order visit:  Red-shouldered Hawk Territory.  

You will find all my posts on my experiences in Red-shouldered Hawk territory by clicking this link.  The last post will appear first.  Scroll to the bottom and click "older" to move backward to the first post.  

For more information about the species, visit Cornell's site on Red-shouldered Hawks.    

Join Me! Bird Attitudes: Inspiring Art and Conservation

Join me,  Wednesday, March 7th, at the Knoxville Tennesseee Ornithological Society meeting (KTOS) for an evening of photos, art and stories as I show you how birds inspire my art and my passion for conservation.

Birds are funny, fun and fascinating.  From the top of their heads to the pads on their feet, a birds size, color and shape offer many clues into its life style and habits.   Add to that, the personality revealed through behavior and you have the inspiration for all kinds of bird-related pursuits, including advocacy and conservation.

Join me as I share my photography, art and stories, and show you just what inspires me to pick up my brushes and paint.

America's Hooded Crane

A secretive bird whose breeding territories were only first discovered in 1974, the Hooded Crane is described as one of the least understood large birds in the world. And that is primarily because it nests in the remote and inaccessible sphagnum bogs scattered through the taiga in southeastern Russia, and in China, in forested wetlands in mountain valleys.

I saw my first Hooded Crane at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 2005.  And I saw my second at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee in December of 2011.  What was a Hooded Crane doing in the southeastern United States?  No one knows for certain.  But, there is every indication that this individual is wild, and possibly wandered too far west of Siberia, migrating into the United States following sandhill cranes.

Above, a group of Greater Sandhill Cranes feeding near the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee.  The Hooded Crane stands only 3.3 ft tall while the Greater Sandhill Crane may be 4-5 ft tall.

In February, 2012, this Asian crane visitor left Tennessee and was next seen staging with sandhill cranes at the Goose Pond Wildlife Management Area in Green County, Indiana.  It stayed approximately four days and was last seen February 12th.  Birders are watching for it in more northerly sandhill crane staging areas.

I have recently written a three-part series on the endangered Hooded Crane, threats to its native habitat, and its visit to the southeast on my companion blog, Vickie Henderson Art.  The series, entitled, America's Hooded Crane, includes beautiful images taken by Chinese researcher, Dr. Guo Yumin, of the Hooded Crane on its breeding territory, along with slides explaining how to distinguish individual hooded canes.  

On this blog:  Sandhill Cranes and Art and Whooping cranes in watercolor