Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Day Seventeen: Doodle Bird


I spent the better part of the day today at airports and on planes, travelling down to visit my parents in Naples, Florida. There's not much to do at the airport, so I always bring my sketchbook and a Pigma pen, and do what I call "Inspired Doodling." Inspired, because I like to work from some kind of visual reference or inspiration, and Doodling, because that's what this kind of drawing feels like to me.



I found this image of a bird in a magazine article about art tiles from California during the Arts and Crafts era (c. 1880 -1910 or so). I like the way the artist has fit the design so beautifully into the square format. My sketchbook is in 'landscape' format, so my bird had to be adjusted for that, and since I didn't have any way to add color, I added line and pattern to give it some interest.
It's challenging to do something creative while travelling by air these days. It's not like you can bring your exacto knife, your embroidery needles, hot glue gun or blow torch with you to the airport. Even watercolor tubes, I've learned from experience, are objects of suspicion with the TSA guys. Doing my inspired doodling is very relaxing for me in this highly charged environment.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Peggy,
    First of all, I wanted to thank you very much for your beautiful 2011 calendar you gave me by way of Alicia! I love it. And I also love what you are doing here with your 365 Birds for 2011! Very cool...I will continue to check in on your progress...so far my favorite is probably Quentin's owl!
    Shelley

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  2. Very cool blog... this crow is a contemporary RTK Studios tile inspired by Rookwood Potteries of the Arts and Crafts era. You can check it out at rtkstudios.com

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  3. I understand that the late Charles Limburhg had real interest for Birds in fact when asked he said if he had any choice he would pick Birds over Airplanes

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