Some more birds

I've been busy recently with some works I can't show on this blog, so here are a couple of my usual "bird drawings".

I'm grateful to my friend Antonio, who loves watching and photographing birds and other animals, for providing me with many good photos and allowing me to use them freely as reference.

Sandwich tern (Sterna sandvicensis or Thalasseus sandvicensis) and other seabirds.


Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica), young specimens.

One-man-band/6

This watercolor was done some time ago, but was left in my drawer because I thought it was unbalanced. Basically I still think it is, but I have no clear idea how to fix it...

Airship study

A study for the next image on airships - much less realistic, as you can see. I show the preliminary drawing here because I'm quite sure that the painting will be less incisive and interesting - so, why do you make a painting? Because people (including me) like colors, sometimes...

More gulls

As I have already said, it's easy to take pictures of gulls in my town, so I'm afraid you will see a lot of drawings/paintings of gulls in the future, I'm experimenting a bit on different styles and techniques.

A couple of drawings. The first is done with a more tonal approach, suggesting a kind of "moist atmosphere"


in the second I reverted to my usual line style, which seems more lively to me


I also did a watercolor study (with very limited gouache and pencil touches). Due to lack of planning, I completely messed up the backgroud.


I'm still hesitant between a true soft watercolor effect, and a more precise description, which is what I actually got despite my initial intent.
Painting watercolor twice in a year is not the right way to improve...

Portrait

A quick sketch from life. Unfortunately she looks older than she actually is (but luckily you don't know).
Made in sanguine.

Airship Norge/2

According to some old photos, airships were carried out of hangars simply by pulling ropes. Sometimes a kind of trolley could support the airship, but I was interested in showing the magic of a giant weightless baloon being carried around.

Gulls

Gulls are common on the river in my town, especially in winter. They gladly accept some food (mostly old bread) and "pose" for some photos.
These are probably young specimens of black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus). The big one on the lower left is a different species, probably a yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis).