State Birds

I love lists.  Lists make me feel like I have some sort of control in my life.  Even if it's an illusion, it's comforting.  I'm not your typical artist-type that's all head-in-the-clouds and fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants.  My head is on my shoulders and I fly by ... not sure what the other side of that metaphor is.

I also enjoy having a list when creating, as un-creative as that sounds. It makes me feel like I'm heading somewhere.  That's why I chose to draw each birth flower, and that's why I am now drawing each state bird.

I have a note going on my phone to keep track of all the state birds I've completed.

I started with Oregon's Meadowlark back in November

It's currently the only bird available for sale as a print.

And my latest I finished today, the cute little Black Capped Chickadee for Maine.

I feel like I've gotten a little better and quicker at drawing birds.  And there are a lot more to go!  Interestingly, there are a lot of birds that represent multiple states.  For instance, the mockingbird is the state bird for Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi.  That is a lot of states! 

I haven't yet decided how I'm going to approach that, whether I'll draw the same bird in different ways, or just change up the wording digitally... probably I'll choose the harder road and just draw the same bird again.  And again and again and again and again in some instances.

I also just now noticed that I started this series being more stylized (notice the stripes in the mockingbird and meadowlark) and now I'm just being more realistic. Not sure when that changed. 

Ok, I just scrolled back through all my birds, and I think it was back in Washington, which was only my third bird.

Not sure where I'm going with this. 

I just kind of letting this blog post unfold... And I'm not sure how to end it...

A picture of Ransom usually works.

Cool dude, awestruck by a construction site.