New Birds and Confidence

Feb 18, 2026
New Birds and Confidence
All Musings 0

I’ve made some new pieces recently. They’re all local birds that can be found here along the Redwood Coast and Humboldt County specifically. All of them were requests from various patrons to my booth who stopped by over the last year and suggested them as subject for more greeting cards.

I slipped back into my groove when I was making these. At the height of my bird art, way back when I was toward the end of my series of “100 Birds”, I’d been able to get a piece done in about two hours, sometimes three. So these recent pieces felt good, because I was able to get most of them done in a single livestream recording session and still have room to maneuver around to adjust for mistakes. I had breathing room.

And that was really comforting.

The pieces I completed are, as you can see in the images for this post (clockwise): a Peregrine Falcon, a Common Murre, a Night Heron, and a Marsh Wren.

Each of these presented unique challenges for me. The Falcon and the Murre, in particular, were challenging because I don’t do many birds with wings outstretched, and it taught me I need to make a concerted effort to learn a bit more about bird anatomy!! Haha!!

The Night Heron is one of the most unusual birds I've ever drawn! It feels almost like it has a hunch back. I can't wait to see one of these in flight!

The Marsh Wren felt like I was coming home to familiar ground, albeit I’d never done a bird from that particular perspective. Their little tails are certainly perky!!

But the Loon… Wow, that was completely out of my wheelhouse. I was making a bird from a composite image I photo-abashed together. I had to imagine what the perspective was like, and then draw the feather pattern along that made-up angle that I had to keep in my brain and hope was correct.

I don’t work with perspective much. I know enough about it to know it would take some concentrated study to on my part to wield effectively. And as with bird anatomy, I think it’s a rabbit hole I’d need to apply myself toward to really absorb.

But regardless, I’m really proud of the Loon. I think the colors are quite effective. I combined two different bird poses, two different sources of light, and an invented perspective. OY!!

I’m not used to fabricating so much out of my own head. I learned that most of my skillset is in translating photography. When I couldn’t rely upon that anymore, I was discombobulated and really had to take chances and learn on the spot. It was a good exercise in dangling off a cliff and just getting it done.

I don’t usually do that with my art. I’ve become quite secure following my own process. Inserting new, untried elements and aspects into that process and having to trust myself that it would turn out okay was a real accomplishment for me.

And I know it’s just art. “Big whoop.”

But it was a huge confidence booster. I can trust my process, and feel good about experimenting and doing things I don’t know how to do within that process. And still come out on top with a nice finished work.

Whew.

That opens up so. many. possibilities! Yeah, I’ll fall down once in a while, and the piece will be trash. But it’s good to have tiny victories, you know? Celebrate the small steps along the way!

Here are the speedpaint vids for these pieces:

I also have them available as greeting cards here:

Leave a comment