No more work yet on the Macaws, because I have just had the pleasure of producing a plan of Trinity College, Cambridge for a paper to be published in Construction History, International Journal of the Construction History Society. I drew this plan A4 size on my computer using a wacom tablet and pen, composed in Adobe Illustrator, which is the same programme that I use to hand-draw the maps I have been asked to produce for several books over the years.
I have completed 3 of my 4 squirrel compositions in pencil, now covered and protected with a gesso base, on 18″ x 24″ canvases (Greys, Blacks, Whites), and have been sketching out the Reds composition this morning. However, I wished to depict at least one of the three squirrels in the picture eating a pine cone and after searching for a Scots pine cone in my little wild garden (duly found) I then realized I did not know how the squirrel might be holding it! So I have just been on Google to check and now have new knowledge of the way these beautiful creatures eat. It is quite possible/probable that two of them may be eating by the time I have finished composing the sketch, as one is also in the classic ‘Nutkins’ pose – sitting with bushy tail up and over its body.
Below is the sketch of White squirrels:
1502 White Squirrels preliminary sketch