Green woodpeckers

The (european) green woodpecker (Picus viridis) is a beautiful, middle size bird of our countries. It's quite common to ear his funny call, a kind of sonorous mocking laughter, and you can spot him while he moves with his undulating flight, but he tends to be rather shy, so it's not easy to watch him for a long time.
But this summer I was lucky enough to see a couple of them breeding in a field near a wood, and the observation was rather long and accurate. They are mostly green and mimetic, but they have a bright red crown - as if they were a bit vain. They walked calmly and watchful on the grass, looking for food.
When you see wild animals busy in their activities, it's easy to understand why  many traditional legends regard them as "small persons", little human creatures with a secret life. So I decided to remember my lucky encounter with a painting, "the secret life of green woodpeckers".

Done mostly in watercolor, with some gouache and colored pencils (sorry for the bad photo). Unfortunately I was not consistent in the color of the characters.

Basilisk

A basilisk is a dreadful mythological animal, known as the king of snakes.
It is often depicted as a rooster with a snake tail and bird wings, however different versions of the myth report a mixute of almost any animal, so I felt free to imagine my own version. I simply tried to express the main characteristics, such as the terrific appearance, the deadly gaze and the poisonous breath.

Krivopeta

A weird creature today.
A krivopeta (or krivapeta) is a mythological figure coming from the border between Italy and Slovenia. As many other figures from myth, her description varies greatly, from a benevolent friend of people (sometimes she even marries a man) to a evil-minded witch. One thing however is distinctive of a krivopeta: her feet point backward.
Drawing such a strange woman is a challenge: the anatomy clearly doesn't work, and she look unbalanced... although after drawing a few, she now looks quite natural to me...  :)
Another question arises: is she an ugly witch, or a beautiful girl cursed with a deformity?

One-man-band/8

One more attempt with color.

Sketching in the mountains

Some sketches from my recent holidays.

The simpler the better.

One-man-band/7

This is a sample from my attempts to mix drawing and color. Gouache and ink.
Many errors, but I think there is something good which may be a starting point for the next ones.

Airship Sirius

It's an imaginary airship, of course, it could be the main character in a story set in late nineteenth century, I don't know if I will have enough time for that.
The model is probably not definitive yet, and the name is temporary, too. Also, lighting is rather basic in these renderings.

On the traditional side, besides doing some works I can't show on this blog, I'm struggling quite a bit with colors. I'm trying to find a way to "color my drawings". Basically I want to draw, but it would be nice to integrate lines with some color. Watercolor, inks and gouache are the best candidates, but I still have to find my way.