Sketchbook Sunday: Red Footed Booby Face

This made this little sketch of the front view of a red footed booby this week. I did some other booby sketches, but this one is the best so far. My attempt at making this awkward-looking animal seem more like the fierce and agile predator it really is. Sketching red footed boobies for a reason - I plan to put one in my next print for Baren Exchange #72. More on that later.

Molly Hashimoto's Bird Calendar

This image is from a new calendar that I excitedly purchased for 2017. It features 12 sharp and colorful block prints of birds by Molly Hashimoto. The artist wrote about its release on her blog earlier this year.

Although I will miss my Gustave Baumann calendar. (Both were published by Pomegranate, a small press I highly recommend for art calendars), I am thrilled to have have this gem hanging in my kitchen for a year.

All twelve of the prints in the calendar are stunning, but I just had to feature the one owl. Beyond the obvious reasons, the intense gaze and highlights in the eyes of this autumn-colored specimen are captivating.

Happy Winter Solstice, my faithful readers and lovers of woodcuts. Sleep well as our nocturnal cousins revel in the extended darkness of this longest night.