Swans' way

There's a swan couple in a pond near our neighborhood and I paid them a visit this morning. A fence separates their area from that of onlookers. When they saw me settling in, they waddled out of the water and found a place to sun themselves near where I was. For twenty minutes or so, we three sat peacefully. They groomed themselves and gazed about. I gazed at them and drew. Then the female stood up, stretched a bit, and ambled back to the water. The male followed. And that's the way it was.

(I apologize for the execrable state of these images. I spent a long time trying to make them better. I'm getting an Apple computer and a good scanner soon, so I hope things will improve.)

Comments

[TeriC]

Your swans are beautiful!! How lucky to have them in a nearby pond.

Yes, when your chicken comes to visit bring her over and see my rooster--maybe they can have a playdate :)

[lin]

BEAUTIFUL!!! And so filled with grace!! Love these, Laura!!!!!

[ParisBreakfasts]

These are beautiful sketch pages Laura! You scan yr images? How quaint of you :)

[zephyr]

gorgeous....simply lyrical.
btw, i often think your postings (images), particularly of pencil drawings are far better than my scanned sketches(and i've got a very good scanner)...i'm assuming from what you wrote that you are "shooting" them with a digital camera...?
i find it very difficult to control the contrast with a scanner...even with all the settings mine has...which is why i no longer try to scan my color pencil sketches. Just FYI, when you go shopping for that scanner.

[Beth]

Oh, the swans and the cows are my favorites, although the goats and the hen are also fine. Thank you so much for posting these! You ought to frame a whole lot of your sketches--they are lovely!

[Terri]

Such graceful curves. :o)

[Tam's garden]

Laura,

I really like this style of drawing animals. I tried it myself the other day (hope you don't mind, but if you weren't any good, I wouldn't try to follow your example!), found that it worked much better than trying to draw them with one continous line like I had been doing. Thank you for the inspiration!

[Fae]

Hi,
I saw your posts in the EDM group. Your work is absolutely beautiful! You draw animals incredibly well. You are very gifted and I really enjoy looking at your work!

[Jo Castillo]

I love your flowing lines in the swans. Those swans just fit your style!
Jo

[wagonized]

Comme d'habitude, quel plaisir! Mais comment vous faites?? Vous êtes ultra rapide dans votre exécution -- et avec quelle exactitude. Et bravo si vous obtenez un ordinateur Mac -- vous allez adorer.

[Pedro Cabral]

With or without apple computer, your drawings are great.

[Toni Kelly]

I have been enjoying all your animal sketches.
thanks for sharing

[Jana Bouc]

Lovely swans, beautiful lines and you've done such a nice job with their faces. I'm inspired by all the communing with nature you've been doing. There's a racetrack nearby where the horses are worked out very early in the morning and visitors are allowed to watch. You've inspired me to go visit soon. Regarding scanners, I love mine. It's so much easier than taking photos and trying to square the camera to the image and getting the lighting right. I do usually have to tweak the image slightly but it's so much easier than using a camera.

[marlyat2]

Lovely neck-gestures. Now I think that you are practicing for a fairy tale...

[Christeen]

You know, I just love these sketches. And all the other sketches. I always look forward to your new posts :)

[Lori Witzel]

Of course these made me think of other swans -- Leonardo's sketches for Leda and the Swan, Audubon's Common American Swan...

Yours are so fully themselves. Like your other animal sketches, your kind eye and hand don't make the swan a tool of art but keep the animal a presence, a being.

[Laura]

What wonderful comments, with great information thrown in, too! Many thanks for both. I am so lucky, Lori, to be able to go and draw all of these animals. I will remember this month for the rest of my life.

[Ulla]

Laura, These are just wonderful, as is everything your brush touches... I was wondering if I could borrow some of these swan 'lines' for a mural project in my dollhouse (see my sight)? I am doing a childrens room with a swan merry-go-round in it, and these would be just lovely on the walls... Let me know via email or on my blog. Thanks