Today I had a day free with no plans. I have not sat down to spend a large amount of time drawing for ages, so decided to indulge. I cleared the table, sharpened my watercolour pencils and cut some paper to A4 size.

Everyday I draw in a Moleskine watercolour Sketchbook 13 x 19 cm. But today was different.

I have been drawing feathers (and also recently books) on larger sheets of equivalent textured paper which I discovered through trial and error. See my blog from last year.  I found the perfect paper. It is called University paper. I believe it is produced by St Cuthberts Mill in the UK . It is available  in sheets of  210 gsm for me at Deans Art in Melbourne.

photo of a Rainbow Lorikeet

I have decided to draw my feathers, nests and books on larger sheets because I eventually may have an exhibition. I would also like to use them for print on cards. The larger size paper allows me to draw a few feathers on the page and think about composition. Today I wanted to break away from the black, greys, browns, creams of the magpie, ibis and duck feathers that I have been drawing. The feathers of the rainbow lorikeet seemed a good choice. All feathers were picked up in a local park in Melbourne or a Waterbird habitat in Queensland. I found these simple colourful feathers difficult to draw. They are not soft and fluffy (which I enjoy). I draw a lot of feathers – see more on my flickr site or my blogpost on drawing a feather step by step.

I am pleased with the result and have put the drawing aside for a while. I need to add a bit more colour intensity in some areas. I am also thinking of adding a fifth feather on the far end (the same size as the first one). What do you think ? It has also been suggested to arrange them horizontally on the page not vertically. Your thoughts?

I finished the day by started another feather….
(one is real and the other start of a drawing !)