Stork Update

I've been doing more work at home than the studio this summer.  But when I do get there I'm still working away on the stork drawings.  And still loving every moment.

Struggles

I have been struggling with stork images for a long time now.  For whatever reason it has been very difficult to make a good painting of a stork.  This, of course, has launched me into a bit of an obsession.  The psychology of rejection, you know.  The first and last images are charcoal on canvas and I'm pretty sure that's where the future of this project lies.  But I do have a few I'm still pursuing in oils just in case.

A Few Belgian Birds

Not sure who this guy is.  (got it...Stonechat)

Blue Tit

Maybe a Chiffchaff??

Wood Pigeon

Stork

Jackdaw

Juvenile Blue Tits

Here are a few of the birds I saw at Het Zwin.  I haven't figured out all of the id's so if you know your European birds please help.

Storks!

Our first order of business after flying from NYC to Brussels was to drive out to Het Zwin, a nature preserve near the town of Knokke-Heist not too far from Brugges.  This was a last minute addition to our trip because I found out they have storks.  So after no sleep on the plane, Matt drove our rental car (diesel, stick shift car in the pouring rain) to Het Zwin (about an hour from the airport) so that I could look for storks and other birds.  It was like hitting the jackpot.  The birds were everywhere.  I spent two hours walking through the reserve while Matt and Olivia slept in the car.  When the storks came close to the car (seems like someone threw them bread) I tried to rouse Olivia and Matt (to no avail.)  The storks made a great CLACKing sound when they snapped their beaks together.  Totally awesome.  So I let the sleeping beauties rest for another hour before I pushed them both out of the car to look at the storks.

Stork Cam

There are two things I've discovered recently that have changed my life.  The first is how to take a screen shot.  The second is the wildlife cam.  I mean I've followed links to "live" cams before only to have either my computer or the camera not work properly.  This time it all started with the Osprey Cam at Island Beach State Park which I watched non-stop for a week straight.  I took about 1,000 screen shots.  I'll share them tomorrow.  But then I started to explore the net and found this Stork Cam which for some reason I thought was in Estonia even though the chats are in Lithuanian.  So I'm not sure if it is in Estonia and just has a lot of Lithuanian viewers or if I got it wrong.  They don't have night vision (which the osprey do-so cool) so you have to catch the storks during their daylight hours.  Seeing these guys on the nest has me hoping I can see some Storks in Belgium.  We're making a side trip to Knokke-Heist to a wildlife refuge that supposedly has some nesting storks.  I can't wait!