Blog Blog: 2010-06-24T15:55:12Z Copyright (c) 2010, Ken ExpressionEngine tag:darrenwoodheadartist.co.uk,2010:06:24 Spring 2010 tag:darrenwoodheadartist.co.uk,2010:index.php/10.18 2010-06-24T15:30:00Z 2010-06-24T15:30:33Z Ken info@darrenwoodheadartist.co.uk The bitterly cold winter has no doubt had a vast effect on many of our native species, but it did give the opportunity to be able to catch up with many elusive subjects which would otherwise be difficult to see. The early part of the year was dominated by unprecedented numbers of Woodcock visible in woodland as well as parks and gardens. I gradually became familiar with their haunts and was able to see them well enough to draw. At the same time I also became aware of the sheer volume of birds feeding on the mass of Sea Buckthorn Berries at one local coastal beauty spot. Here, up to three thousand Fieldfare ‘chacked’ and rasped their way through the never ending supply of orange clusters of berries. I could sit in a small ravine below the hoards, and become a part of their world even regularly experiencing the momentary silence as local Sparrowhawks gorged on the mass of birds present. Often great waves of birds would take flight for no apparent reason, similar to Kittiwake type ‘threats’, voiceless yet deafening, as the wind rushed over thousands of wings shooting low overhead. Banking sharply, some birds split the group to head east or west, before once again landing into the inferno of cadmium orange berries where the volume of feasting Thrushes would once again reach an unbelievable din. 

]]> India, March 2010 tag:darrenwoodheadartist.co.uk,2010:index.php/10.17 2010-06-24T15:27:00Z 2010-06-24T15:55:12Z Ken info@darrenwoodheadartist.co.uk It was challenging conditions for painting, 38 degrees and tinder dry, a far cry from the Scottish snow, wind and rain that I had left and returned to at the beginning of April.

Technicalities made painting so different to what I am used to. Watercolour paint was instantly baked dry, barely allowing any chance for paint to mix on the paper surface, pigmentation and texturing of colours only possible if I used huge quantities of water. The heat almost appeared to seal the paper surface; frustratingly speed was of the essence if I was to gain any of the expected results of working direct with brush. Eventually I was able to tailor the way I painted to make the most of the conditions I was experiencing.

The most wonderful birds and animals were even just around the camp. Orioles, Treepies and a whole array of new bids for me sang and flittered around in the luscious green Sal trees and the golden browns of falling leaves. Paradise flycatchers fed among the vibrant canopy while spectacular Indian Rollers displayed and lived up to their names in their droves. Crested Serpent and Variable Eagles soared over forests that echoed to the howling of Wolves and Jackals at night. Several species of Deer and the majestic Guars strode and hid in the cover that were alive to the calls of Languar’s and Mackaqs. Surprises were many. On the same ridge Painted Sandgrouse sat at the side of the track and a wonderful Nightjar made the most of its moth like appearance and disappeared among the stones and leaves of the forest floor. And then there were the Tigers.

For several days we were treated to stories in the sand, the evening’s events told by the tracks ahead. Pug marks crossing roads here, following paths there. So regularly Tigers were using the same tracks we travelled on to commute, a trunk road for both humans and animals negotiating the contours of the jungle. Our first pug marks - a large male crossed our jeeps tyre tracks moments after we had passed. Hope then came in cub prints following a tigress.  Days passed and she and her family hid well. A surprise, Leopard prints too, so wonderful to be on the scent and in the realm of these two large cats. We passed a tree where scratch marks reached at least seven foot up the trunk, the marks continued higher but the latter were thought to be Sloth Bear. Then luck, an alarming Spotted Deer closer then we had ever heard. She had obviously just stumbled across her main predator.  Almost driving past her before a tap on the shoulder and there! Our first Tigress sat calmly watching us from behind bamboo deep in a mala or ravine, no doubt her cubs nearby. Distance was so difficult to perceive, the stripes and ground colour sending the animal way back into cover yet her piercing straw yellow eyes looked you straight in the face. Such an epitaph of power, symbol of beauty and ruler of her environment.  She was so much more than I had imagined as a child, and after the initial rush of excitement, I was filled will emotion and sadness. How have they ever being let to become such a desperate reminder of the state of our natural world.

Another day brought the most amazing sighting. After seeing fresh pug marks of a tigress and cubs following the orange, dusty track and a fresh scat the size of a small mammal to the side, we were so warmed to know that we had witnessed the presence of a family. Little did we know what was to happen. The feeling of being in the vicinity and presence of Tigers I found just as powerful and absorbing as seeing the animals themselves.  Then as we sat beside a waterhole taking in the in the last hour of light one of the tigresses we had followed majestically strode along a rocky ridge, miraculously tailed by her three, three month old cubs. As she came within 20 meters, her cubs left and scrambled above the tree line. While she came closer, drank for 15-20minutes then bathed, the cubs played high on the ridge above, the first time these cubs had ever been seen and sign of hope. Whilst trying to react and draw what we were witnessing she called the cubs, then as silently as she had arrived, slipped back with her family to the camouflage of the forest.  As I scribbled away in the Jeep speeding out of the reserve, my mind became numb with a mixture of excitement and sadness. Over the next few days we were lucky enough to see more and I am still coming to terms with my childhood dream. 

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