Drawing & Painting Birds

Over the last year many of us spent a lot of time watching birds, either at feeders in our own backyards or out on walks at the beach, in the woods, or our own neighborhoods.

If you’d like to learn some basic techniques for drawing our feathered friends, this could be the class for you. We will talk a little about bird anatomy, enough to give you an idea about how they stand up and balance themselves and how their wings move.
Beaks, feet, feathers, all those things will be discussed as well. Don’t be scared by that. I’ll send you home with lots of info to study if you want to go deeper.

We will spend most of our time drawing different types of birds. You’ve probably noticed that ospreys, great blue herons, cardinals, and chickadees are all different sizes and shapes. We’ll be looking closely at those differences and discussing the ways bird artists approach this fun and fascinating subject.
After lunch we will experiment with adding color, either with watercolor or colored pencils or both.

What you’ll need for class:
. Some very basic drawing ability (and if you have none, that’s okay, too)
. A sketchpad no smaller than 7 x 9” and preferably 9 x 12”
. A plain old #2 pencil (no eraser and I’ll bring my good sharpener for all to use)
. Bird field guides if you have them
. Watercolors, brushes, etc. if you want to paint
. Colored pencils if you want to try them to add color
. A sense of humor
You’ll also want drinking water or other beverage, a bag lunch and a snack, your mask.

Social distancing and mask wearing will be observed even if you’ve been vaccinated (Instructor has been vaccinated)

Mary Richmond, instructor, says: “I’ve spent a good chunk of my life drawing and painting birds as well as other wildlife subjects and look forward to sharing this rewarding activity with you.”

Saturday, June 19
10am-3pm
Art Studio
$105/$89 members