Above: A sketch of a Rosebreasted Grosbeak study skin at the Bell Museum of Natural History. Staedtler Pigment Liner and light washes of gouache in a handmade journal with Magnani Annigoni Designo for pages. Click on the image to view an enlargement. (Note: my written note at the bottom was done so quickly that I left out an essential word that might confuse you—"because he could always get more details than in black," meaning with a blue background he could always add more details over the blue, with different blues. The rest of the comment explains that, but it might confuse you and I want to avoid that!)
The first Thursday of the month is Bell Museum Sketch Night. The event started earlier this year (in September) but I wasn't able to attend that evening. I couldn't miss the opportunity to see artist Don Colley at the Bell on October 4, however.
I arrived a little early and finished up this sketch. My white paint in my travel palette was contaminated so I didn't paint on the cottonball in the eye or the breast and tail feathers. The feet were a little tortured in my sketch—by the time I reached them in my drawing Don had been introduced and I wanted to go and watch him draw.
Which I did. Never miss a chance to see Don Colley draw!
