Studio Blog
My Week in Birds ~ July Week 4
I’ve finally been getting out on walks again this week and oh how lovely they have been. The mist nestles into our little valley and the gentle morning sun peeks over the top. The pied currawong family has returned to town, making their distinct calls above the tree tops. It’s all beautiful. I don’t think there’s anything quite as lovely as a soft winter’s day in central Victoria, with currawongs on top! ~ I‘ve now listed the three new lithographs on my online shop, all depicting the gorgeous little zebra finches. Each one is hand coloured with oil pastels and this one above includes watercolour paint as well.I‘ve also noticed a few noisy kookaburras around town lately. They give a good old laugh at the start of my work day after I get in from my walk. They remind me of last year when I was camping at Vaughan Springs, not far from here, and I sat below a tree and drew the campsite kookaburra. I came across the sketch again recently.They’re also reminding me that this year it has been TEN years since I published my very first children’s book Kookaburra Kookaburra. Keep an eye out over the next few months because we will have a few celebration offers and bundles! In the meantime, keep well, keep warm and keep noticing xx
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My Week in Birds ~ July Week 3
Another quiet week here in Guildford. I did manage to print an edition of lithographs and hand colour them though. So there’s that!
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My Week In Birds ~ July Week 2
It’s been a slow, quiet week for me. School holidays, but we’re sick. FUN! The dog is finally getting annoyed at the less frequent walks (he normally hides under the table when I get his lead), and when we do get out, we go at a much slower pace, which maybe suits his sniff schedule better. Hopefully things will be back on track next week, although I’ll remember to give poor Viktor a few longer pauses for good smells on our morning circuits. ~ Last weekend I set up a little makeshift studio in my kitchen/living room, next to the fire, so I could be in the house with my son, get some work done and keep toasty warm. I’ve been drawing pages for a new “Trip to ...” minibook, including this delightful scene of an Australian hobby tucking into breakfast. I didn’t get the photo, it’s one for the memory bank instead. Although we haven’t been hugely successful, my husband and I have been trying to record a few bird sounds for a little project in the works. Marred by whipper snippers, children’s playground noises, airy highway sounds and aeroplanes we put the equipment down and just watched instead. Our 12-year-old son was with us, with his eagle eyes, and he said, “Mum! What’s that yellow bird?” It was the crested shrike tit I’ve been on the look out for for months! A friend had spotted one on the same lane in the past, and I think I’d heard one a number of times, but never saw it. But there he was, singing his little heart out (until we got the recording equipment on him, of course.) Since my eldest has been incapable of taking part in the incessant soccer sessions with his little brother and next door neighbour in our now grass gone, muddy garden this past week, once we were both feeling a little better I invited him into the studio and we started a little lithography plate each. I’m still just learning the process so it was actually really useful to vocalise the steps involved in the form of teaching him. He chose to draw a raven. It should be ready to print today so we shall see how it goes. I’ll pop our results on the socials over the weekend! Keep well, keep warm, keep noticing xx Bridget
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My Week In Birds ~ July Week 1
Really there’s only one bird to talk about this week. A little bit of a highlight who surpasses everything else. ~ I went birding at the weekend with two friends who I hadn’t seen for a while, neither knew each other so it was nice to introduce them. The day started in mist. It was beautiful and mysterious but not the most ideal conditions for bird spotting! Knowing we had an impressive picnic to look forward to around midday (thank you Emma and Olivia, and apologies my contribution was lacking) we stuck it out and were rewarded greatly, not just by the edibles. For in the dense salt bushes, by the edge of the faint sun sparkled water, a sweet little face peeked out. It belonged to the extremely endangered orange-bellied parrot, or the OBP to birders. We even saw a flash of its fabulous, famous, flaming belly. I’ll be making a little “Trip To...” book about this outing over the next few weeks, probably bringing it out sometime in August or September along with another planned Trip To... book. Keep an eye out for them!
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My Week In Birds ~ June Week 4
The wood ducks have returned to my little town. They seem to hang out here in the winter months, at least I have images of them in my memory every year sitting in the branches of The Big Tree with the misty morning surrounding them, calling their comforting, but still slightly otherworldy wails. Did you know that my friend Sarah hand prints all of my wooden bird mobiles? I carve the lino plates and she prints them using a roller and a little printing press. Each colour a new layer. Initially I printed them myself but it took up all my time (and space) meaning I was able to do very little else. Sarah has been printing for me for about 8 years now and she’s still not bored of it! She has just finished a batch of Welcome Swallows which haven’t been in stock for quite a while, so it’s good to see them back. I’ll let you into a little secret about this design. I accidentally made one of the wings ever so slightly smaller than the other. I was annoyed with myself initially but then I realised it meant the bird hangs at an angle which looks like it is swooping and soaring and playing in the air like real swallows do. A whole flock would look lovely all together! There are weird signs of spring everywhere yet it is only the start of winter. The jonquils have popped their yellow heads out already in my garden and the golden wattle is a month or so early round here. Musk lorikeets have arrived in flocks too, I don’t think I’ve seen them here at this time of year before. They are joining a host of bees in feeding on what appears to be the flowers of what I think are the tall ash trees lining our town’s oval (I really must get better at tree identification.) It has been a very mild start to winter in central Victoria, but it’s bringing the stubby little musk lorikeets so it’s not all doom and gloom! I found an old SD card for my camera the other day, popped it into my computer to see what was on it and Oh Joy! tonnes of phtoos I took about 5 years ago of yellow robins! So I’ve been drawing away with my oil pastels (my new favourite medium) and I also decided to make a drypoint etching of this glorious bird! So keep an eye out as I’ll soon be making the drawings and the etching available in the ol’ online shop. (I’ll probably announce it all next friday!)Happy Bird Noticing!
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My Week In Birds ~ June Week 3
It’s the week before the last week of school term 2, and yet I feel I’m only just settling into this year’s new routines. I’m trying to walk everyday with my reluctant little dog, Viktor, and my neighbour’s oversized old gentleman, Smooch, the Hungarian vizsla. I include him on our walks because he’s such a glorious orange colour and often goes very well with my outfits. My wardrobe is very Autumnal. I spotted a grey shrikethrush through my dirty studio window this week. I’ve been hearing them again lately. Their call is so evocative and pulls me back to somewhere that I haven’t quite figured out. It might be the memory of my two years in the bush, in a place called Basalt, outside of Daylesford, where my husband and I lived just after we got married. It was my first experience of being in the Australian bush and the noises and smells were so different to my experience of Australia (mostly just Melbourne) up to that point and a stark contrast to the two years spent back in Northern Ireland before our wedding. For me, the shrike-thrush sings the song of adventure and new places. Perhaps they heralded me choosing a life in Australia. Maybe their song signalled the start of what my art practice has now become: my love of this area and how I’m always trying to recreate the sense of it in my work. I included the grey shrike-thrush in my book The Bush Birds. The photo that inspired the illustration was of a visitor to our garden during the lockdowns of 2021, who nested under the eaves of our house, although I never quite figured out where! She was a very welcome lodger during those unusual times. A big thank you to everyone who replied to last week’s email telling me of some good double-barred finch hangouts. I now have an adventure planned with my friend Jane for September. However we’re claiming to be searching for DIAMOND FIRETAILS because we never find our target bird on our trips and I really want to see the double-barred delights!
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My Week In Birds - June Week 2
My Week In Birds Another week deeper into brooding skies, temperamental weather and warming fires. The garden is winding down and needs my attention to tuck it in before it falls asleep properly. (This weekend’s diary is once again full, hopefully next weekend then!) New Holland Honeyeaters I’ve been sitting in my studio this week, at my cluttered desk, the heater on, and out of the corner of my eye, being distracted by a little flock of new holland honeyeaters tucking into the remnants of fruit still clinging to our quince tree. The tree’s leaves are autumnal yellow, the overgrown fruit is ripened yellow, and the striking black and white birds complement the scene with their dash of bright yellow down their wings. In the branches of the tree, there is also an imposter quince; a totem tennis ball dangling from its string. The kids must have thrown it up there last summer, but it is only being revealed now that the foliage is less dense. It has the same fuzzy skin as the quinces, albeit a shade or two more vivid in colour. Double-barred Finches I’m still trying to draw daily. This week’s new favourite birds to draw are these little double-barred finches, also known as owl finches. I’ve never seen them in real life (I’m drawing from video footage I’ve found online), but I think they are definitely going to be a destination bird for me - as in I’m going to go find them in the wild one day. Are any living near you? Can I come and visit?! All tips and hints as to the best locations welcome! Sulpher-crested Cockatoo So, we’re not yet halfway through the year (close, but not quite) and I’m designing this year’s Christmas card already, crazy, I know! I’m doing it good and early because I’m away on my writer’s fellowship for all of August, and that’s when we normally finalise Christmas designs. My amazing business manager, Chris, has told me I’m not allowed to go away until this job is done, so I thought I’d better get to it. This year will be the sulphur-crested cockatoo in a wreath of bottlebrush. It will join last year’s kookaburra and the magpie from the year before. The photo above is my mock-up of what it’ll look like. I’m currently making the drypoint plate and will print the original image next week.Happy Bird Noticing!
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My Week In Birds - June Week 1
Has it been raining where you are?Everyone is going around my town saying ‘what awful weather!’ but I quite like this wet, drizzly dullness. It’s changing the colours of the bush, making me see it with new eyes. The blue greys are more silvery, the greens more vibrant. And I love feeling all cosy inside my studio or next to the wood-burning stove in the kitchen. I’m definitely a winter girl!I’ve decided to try and send a short, blog-type mailout once a week entitled My Week In Birds. It’ll cover in just a few words (and most likely a picture) the birds influencing me each week, what I’ve been making and any newness about to happen.Dip in when you feel like it for a 3-minute read over a cup of tea! The Pink Eared Ducks Last weekend, I headed off to Baldessin Studio in St Andrews (in the bush on the other side of Melbourne) to learn plate lithography with artist Chris Ingham. It’s such a magical and mysterious process, which I think I’ve now just about grasped the concept of, it’s a tricky one to get your head around!My muses were these pink-eared ducks that I met in Werribee a few months ago. They have such gorgeous facial markings, and that flash of pink is just stunning!You can see my video of the weekend and the lithography process over on my instagram. The King Parrots While I was in St Andrews I spotted a pair of king parrots acrobatically ambling along the fine branches of a gum tree. It was World Parrot Day last Sunday (31st May) so I took a few photos and drew them for a post to acknowledge these wonderful birds and create awareness for parrots worldwide! The Superb Fairywren A new mini etching finally (it’s been a while!) I have a long running series called "Female Of The Species" where I entitle the piece without saying it’s the female. Everyone recognises the bold coloured males, which the species are often named after, but the little brown females are much harder to recognise and remember. Happy bird noticing!
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