Because you guys aren't paying THOUSANDS of dollars for my aceos (yet... bwa ha ha ha), I have to have a day job. Thanks, guys. That day job is Groundskeeper/Maintenance trainee. I am learning a lot of good skills, I gotta say. Fixing faucets, changing water heater elements, what happens to the bodies of dead birds. You know, life skills.
The answer to that last one, by the way, is the Groundskeeper finds them, calls his birdwatching wife, tells her what he thinks it is, she sighs irritably at his lack of bird identification skills, and says, "I'll have to see it. Bag it."
Here's how that transaction went the last time:
Me: I found a weird looking dead bird. I think it was killed by a paintball. It has a crest, a cardinal-like mask, bigger than a titmouse, a little smaller than a robin.
Her: A crest, mask, wait a minute - what? A Paintball?
Me: Yeah. There's this fleck of neon orange paint on it's wing.
Her: Are you and your maintenance buddies running around with paintball guns all day, shooting at birds?
Me: No! I swear! I promise I'm not paintballing on the job. Anymore.
Her: Sigh (irritably). Bring it to me.
Turns out it wasn't paint. It was a Cedar Waxwing. They have a little neon pink waxy tip to their wings. No one knows why for sure.
Here are a couple of work in progress pics:
First layer of watercolor over the sketch
More detail, ready for HJoshy inkiness
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4 comments:
Nice, sharing your home life with bags of dead birds.
I like the picture too.
interesting lookin speices
wonderful story and illustration. how is greensboro? I was born there. I miss it.
We love greensboro. Pretty laid back, affordable, lots of really tall trees, bbq, etc.
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