The humble sparrow

Like the magpie (see last post),  the humble sparrow is another example of a bird we often disregard in favour of the more glamorous and colourful species .... because we see them everywhere ...  so they end up being a bit boring!  Ok sparrows aren't as brightly coloured as, say the goldfinch or bullfinch but they have bundles of character and I love watching them flitting around the garden.  They also have lovely markings in gorgeous shades of browns.  For someone who paints, I often look at a subject and think of the colours in my palette to describe them - so looking at the sparrow, I'm thinking  - oooh burnt sienna, raw umber, quinadricone gold......!  I was going to paint my little sparrow in a loose style like the magpies but as I made a start something told me to go tighter and more detailed and this is probably the most detailed I've painted for a while.  I've left it like this for now and think I may just leave it as a study rather than putting a background in - or I may give him a branch to stand on -  what do you think?

And just as a little added extra for you today I'd like to share this photograph taken on Moel Famau onTuesday evening - this is where I regularly walk, most evenings if possible, just love it up there in the evening or early in the morning when you're more likely to have the place to yourself,  a good place for birdlife too as you can imagine,  including buzzards, grouse and stonechats - and we saw a cuckoo up there a few weeks ago. The black grouse is in this area too but not seen one yet!

Moel Famau - for more photos of this walk click here

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