Drawing a Blank on Drawing Day

Today was Drawing Day and my intention was to produce a very fine piece depicting my delightful characters in an artistic mood. Complete Failboat. I could not get them to look right and eventually gave up in frustration and decided instead to loosen up my mind with a couple of 13 minute bird headstudies.

The first, a Victorian Crowned Pigeon (16 mins or so) turned out pretty well, pretty!

The second, a Hammerkop was another complete mess:

And finally, to complete everything nicely, my first "Reading Group" piece. A scene from "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell - Rontu, Tainor and Lurai. I hazarded a guess and made the birds Western Tanagers.

They turned out okay. But now it is past 11 pm and I need my beauty sleep (although there ain't enough of that to make me a beauty), so it is time to retire to my delightfully warm bed.