Sunday, March 21, 2010

Illustration Friday - Expired

"Last Rites"
Colored Pencil

This little female cardinal actually died in my hand about a week ago.  I was putting the  greyhounds out in the kennels and she crash landed through the dog door and into the wall of the kennel.  Sassy (the greyhound) grabbed her before I could, but also dropped her pretty quickly when I yelled at her.  So I'm not sure if it was the crash or the greyhound mouthing that did her in, or a combination of the two.  She died about 30 seconds after I picked her up, poor thing.  But observationist that I am, I set her aside near the outside trash cans so that I could draw her later in the day.   Todd complained a little later that the gnats were getting to her so I took pictures of her instead.  It just worked out that she was the perfect subject for this weeks Illustration Friday word.

13 comments:

  1. What a sad story. Poor thing! But a beautiful illustration! Love all the details!

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  2. Well its a sad end for a beautiful bird, but at least she can live on in your wonderful illustration far longer then in life :) very nice!

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  3. I can't imagine a better goodbye for the bird.

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  4. Lovely drawing. I'm sorry the little bird died.
    ~Deb~

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  5. Some models give everything for the art! Nice detail in the drawing. There is a great sadness to the picture.

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  6. Love to see illos on toned paper...very nice and soft capture with this...

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  7. Hi Sally, I see your brain is on fire! No, but seriously, lovely work this, very delicate, I think you have captured the bird's majesty. And I like how you have treated the shadow. Good luminosity in the broken colour work.

    The choice of toned background was a blessing.

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  8. Excellent! I wanted to be a scientific illustrator when I was young, but became a cartoonist instead. Outstanding illustration!

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  9. Oh wow, yes we do have a lot in common, poor birds. Nice detail in your drawing.

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  10. What a beautiful drawing! Poor little thing. We've had a few of them crash into our windows too.

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  11. awww, poor little thing. beautiful drawing though...so Sally, how many greys do you have?! I grew up in Texas, btw...i miss it alot...

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  12. she's beautiful! Very well drawn :)

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  13. beautiful...really special

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