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Zeebra Designs & Destinations

~ An Artist's Eyes Never Rest

Zeebra Designs & Destinations

Category Archives: One Bird At A Time

Thank you, Birdwatching Magazine!

27 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by Playamart - Zeebra Designs in Ecuador, One Bird At A Time, Using WordPress - When Things Go Wrong!

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Birdwatching Magazine, brown wood rail, Ecuador, Poza Honda

The story about the Brown Wood Rail is now available on BirdwatchingDaily. Thank you, Birdwatching Magazine!

Ready, set…..
Leap!
I was drawing and looked up to see the wood rail approaching the water!
2019 – Two Brown Wood Rails allowing a rare private viewing of behavior.

Thanks also to those of you who shared tips on working around the new Block Editor. (The ‘Add Link’ does not seem like an improvement either!)

Some people have adapted and show us by example that adaptation works – but is there anyone who absolutely loves the new Block and prefers it over Classic?

See the story about the Brown Wood Rails here: BirdWatchingDaily.

https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/locations-travel/featured-destinations/encounters-brown-wood-rail-ecuador/

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SHHHH! Bird Specialists in Training!

08 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by Playamart - Zeebra Designs in Ecuador, NATURE, One Bird At A Time, PEOPLE, TRAVEL: LATIN AMERICA

≈ 31 Comments

Tags

Birding |Manabi Province, Ecuador Christmas Bird Count Manabi, poza honda ecuador

SHHHH! Bird Specialists in Training! (Part One)

(Poza Honda Reservoir – Manabi Province, Ecuador)    Just past ten in the morning, our birding party of three peered beyond the rustic bamboo corral in hopes of identifying the raucous oropendolas that had been playing hide and seek with us for the past two hours.  Luis Saltos – bird guide from Chone and Mindo – and I were guests of “Don Jorge” Arnet, owner of a lovingly-tended tract of land at Poza Honda.  (Jorge also owns the house that I rented for the past two years before I moved to Portoviejo.)  The three of us were conducting an all-day census of bird species in the area with hopes of the area being approved for Audubon’s 2020 Christmas Count.  We had been birding since 6 A.M. in intermittent drizzle.

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A few hours earlier that morning, two birds buzzed us, and we exclaimed, “What was THAT?” as I snapped two out-of-focus images of the rapidly-vanishing birds. “Oropendola?” I looked at Luis for confirmation. “That whooshing sound?”

P2880513 yes dos oropendulas

P2880528 7 19 jorge y luis checking oropendula info

Left: “Jorge” Arnet, owner of Casa Poza Honda and coffee/cacao farm; Right: Luis Saltos, bird guide from Mindo and Chone.

We consulted several books and hoped to see those birds again.   The (McMullan/Navarrete) Fieldbook for the Birds of Ecuador places all species of oropendolas in other areas of the country. This particular elusive group of birds must have taken a holiday vacation to Poza Honda, and we were trying to decide, “Russet-backed or Chestnut-headed.”  Two years ago my friend Xiomara and I saw and photographed one Chestnut headed Oropendola, so my bets were on that species. Photos are oh so important in documenting out-of-range species, even if the photo is a bad one.

P2880653 oropendula

P2880634 oropendula

P2880659 jorge y luis

I waited at the next curve and watched Oropendolas fly towards my friends. “Did you see them?” I exclaimed later, “Yes!” they replied, “Lots!”

There were fleeting glimpses of ‘a lot’ half an hour later – then another viewing half an hour later near the bamboo corral. The Oropendolas were out of sight, but my drizzle-baptized camera managed to document one Rufous-headed Chachalaca in the distance, one Tropical Gnatcatcher way up high, and a Long-billed Hermit inspecting flowers along the living fence.

P2880842 chachalaca out of focus dec 30P2880841 TROPICAL GNATCATCHER Dec 30 just before 10 de AgostoP2880845 barons hermit at bamboo corral

P2880843 Golden Olive Woodpecker

‘Don’t forget about me,’ says the Golden-olive Woodpecker!

P2880866 a year ago there was one long human searching for birds. now there are four

States the mule: “A year ago there was one lone human staring at the birds. Now there are four!”

SHHH BIRD SPECIALISTS IN TRAINING HEADER IMAGE.jpg

The last thing I expected to see was another human on the seldom-traveled road and staring at the three of us. A tall, lean and well-scrubbed young man, he wore an expression of curiosity as if observing Santa Clause placing last-minute gifts beneath a tree – or gnomes and fairies in another realm. Continue reading →

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The Lovely Masked Water-Tyrant

22 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by Playamart - Zeebra Designs in INSPIRATION, NATURE, One Bird At A Time, PAINTING WORKSHOPS: "I CAN DO THIS!", PAINTINGS: WATERCOLORS, TIMEOUT FOR ART - Quotes, TRAVEL: LATIN AMERICA

≈ 36 Comments

Tags

Ecuador art, Masked Water Tyrant, One Bird At A Time, poza honda ecuador, Watercolor of birds

P2410579 MASKED WATER TYRANT

Masked Water-Tyrant – Fluvicola nengeta

“I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could. ” John James Audubon

Poza Honda Ecuador – These highly-active and perpetually-happy Masked Water-Tyrants served as good-will ambassadors in every location I’ve lived in Ecuador.  Attired year ’round in crisp white and black/brown, they chirp, chatter, dance and build nests – always near the water.   At Casa Loca along Rio Jama, they foraged along the mud flats at low tide;  in Mindo they nested in locations just above the water, and now at Poza Honda they thrive in an ever-changing playground of water hyacinths.

P2480866 masked water tyrant reflections

While I worked on the Common Tody Flycatcher study, the Water-Tyrants tolerated my presence;  ignoring the artist, they frolicked and provided ample poses for my growing collection of photos.      Painting these birds would be challenging yet rewarding.

P2480433 masked water tyrants watercolor stage one

Masked Water Tyrants – Watercolor in progress by Lisa Brunetti

Working at night from reference photos, I also worked during the day by the water’s edge.    The bi-polar moods of the weather often sent me scampering up the hill to protect the painting!

P2490120 masked water tyrant watercolor y rain

Just as I began the watercolor wash, the skies began to baptize the painting!

Within a week, water levels leaped to maximum levels, which brought those handsome birds (and the invasive water hyacinths) closer and closer to the human’s turf.  They provided a grand assortment of poses – as if to benefit no one except the human that studied them!  Continue reading →

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Trust vs Self Doubt

06 Wednesday Mar 2019

Posted by Playamart - Zeebra Designs in ART, INSPIRATION, NATURE, One Bird At A Time, PAINTINGS: WATERCOLORS, TRAVEL: LATIN AMERICA

≈ 43 Comments

Tags

painting birds in watercolor, poza honda ecuador, self doubt, smooth-billed anis ecuador, southern house wren ecuador, watercolor art of ecuador birds

Poza Honda - Manabi Province- EcuadorPoza Honda - Manabi Province- Ecuador

Smooth-billed Ani in Calabash Tree – Poza Honda/Manabi/Ecuador

“… If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you – and make allowance for their doubting too…” from the poem If by Rudyard Kipling (for the complete poem go HERE)

Self doubt can sabotage one’s concentration. How well I remember standing at the free-throw line and hoping that I would not miss the final shot for a Jr.-high basketball game.  Aware of my teammates, of the coach, of offensive/defensive choices if the ball missed the basket, of the next team waiting for the buzzer and warm ups; I also considered the home-town fans and strangers in the packed gym. Would my team win, would we lose, or would we go into overtime? The possibilities provided many distractions for an inexperienced young-teen! * That moment taught me an important life lesson: block out the conflicting variables and focus on the goal.

The same self doubt inflicts the creative process. When I painted the watercolor study of Smooth-billed Anis, I used an ultra-smooth Bristol Board which is very unforgiving. Once applied, the dark pigments required for the Anis could not be lifted without staining(ruining?) the paper.

for-julie-grayscale-p2420896-smooth-billed-ani-watercolor-small-file-13-x-16-paper-14-x-17.jpg

Smooth-billed Anis – Watercolor in progress (Black and white image)

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” Elbert Hubbard

Quite social and affectionate with each other, Anis stay in family clusters. Sometimes while foraging they are scattered but remain in sight of one another; they also huddle – and even cuddle – during periods of rest.  The Smooth-billed and the Groove-billed Anis prepared a little slide show introduction:

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Painting just one bird would not illustrate the true behavior of the flock.

The painting advanced one bird at a time, and with each bird – self doubt peered over my shoulder and whispered, “Are you sure you want to add another bird? What if you make a mistake? The painting might be ruined.”

Continue reading →

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One Bird at a Time

23 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by Playamart - Zeebra Designs in ART, NATURE, One Bird At A Time, PAINTINGS: WATERCOLORS, TRAVEL: LATIN AMERICA

≈ 34 Comments

Tags

audubon, birds of ecuador, Lisa Brunetti art, Watercolors of birds

“April 10, 1824. I was introduced to the son of Lucien Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon, a great ornithologist, I was told. He remained two hours, went out, and returned with two Italian gentlemen, and their comments made me very contented.” That evening he was taken to the Philosophical Academy[32] where the drawings were greatly admired…” –  (from AUDUBON AND HIS JOURNALS – 1897)

Ecuador – The Museo Portoviejo exposition nears the end and presents a new challenge; what will I do with all of these children?!!!!

p2420436 brugmansias y guard

For a last-minute tour, here’s a slideshow:

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Alas, nature beckons and prompts me to continue, so I observe – and I paint!  Unlike Audubon, I have an advantage of a camera – but with most every study I wish to have a live (or preserved) bird for more-precise reference material.

“July 19th (1824) – Young Harris, God bless him, looked at the drawings I had for sale, and said he would take them all, at my prices. I would have kissed him, but that it is not the custom in this icy city.” (Audubon and His Journals)

Continue reading →

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The Gift of Sight

11 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by Playamart - Zeebra Designs in ART, NATURE, One Bird At A Time, PAINTINGS: WATERCOLORS, PENCIL DRAWINGS, TRAVEL: LATIN AMERICA

≈ 38 Comments

Tags

Common Tody Flycatcher, Ecuador Jan 2019, Manabi Province, Watercolors of birds

p2400500 giant amaryllis purple

“After I’d drawn the grasses, I started seeing them. Whereas if you’d just photographed them, you wouldn’t be looking as intently as you do when you are drawing, so it wouldn’t affect you that much.” ― Martin Gayford, A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney

Poza Honda/Manabi/Ecuador — Lluvia! Rain!   The statement, You’d better watch what you wish for, comes to mind when I share that almost daily – or nightly – the rains continue to fall!  Yesterday the nearby stream built enough confidence to roar – a comforting sound to one who lives slightly uphill from it!     A between-rains inspection revealed several fast-growing trees that had sloughed downhill, and a small part of the gravel road showed new erosion.  My camera chip and computer are not on speaking terms, so your imagination is required for the above scene! (Could the most-recent update have caused this new conflict?)

z p23904031 which amazilia from screenshot video jan 2z p2400397 brugmansia how many blossoms

Birds are happy, trees and flowers are happy – and the aroma of the orange blossoms reminded me of a springtime aroma from Mississippi.  What – could – that- be? I wondered, and then grinned.  “Mock Orange.”   Of course that’s why it has that name!

p2400069 orange blossoms

Between rains, I usually take my art bag and spend time near the Common Tody Flycatchers’ nest.  Let’s go down to the water and see what’s happening!

 

z p2410084 timeout for art y nature common tody flycatchers

Shhhh – artista at work!

Continue reading →

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Timeout for Nature – and for Art!

02 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by Playamart - Zeebra Designs in One Bird At A Time, TRAVEL: LATIN AMERICA

≈ 52 Comments

Tags

art of ecuador birds, Common Tody Flycatcher, ospreys, poza honda ecuador

P2390267 timeout for drawing

“Relatively few people know why an artist acts in this way or that . . . . A peasant who sees me draw an old tree-trunk, and sees me sitting there for an hour, thinks that I have gone made, and of course laughs at me.” (Van Gogh letter to brother Theo)

The Ospreys were calling! How could I ignore their distinct aerial cries? A decision awaited – continue dicing the onion or dash to the window? Trading knife for camera, I dashed to the window! Continue reading →

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Orchestrated Timelines?

10 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by Playamart - Zeebra Designs in INSPIRATION, One Bird At A Time, PAINTINGS: WATERCOLORS, TRAVEL: LATIN AMERICA

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Grey-backed Hawk, Museo Portoviejo, Nomadas en Manabi

Museo Portoviejo sponsors and encourages the arts. (Image from 2012)

El Ministerio de Cultura y Patrimonio
a traves del Museo Portoviejo y Archivo Historico
(Portoviejo Ecuador)
Invita a la inauguracion de la exposicion
NOMADAS EN MANABI
Expositores:
Sigrid Tidmore (Estados Unidos)
Alfonso Endara (Quito)
Crystal Hayes (Canada)
Lisa Brunetti (Estados Unidos)
Yuliana Shevchuk (Rusia)
Abigail Herrera (Venezuela)
………
Direccion: Calle Olmedo entre Sucre y Cordova (Edificio la Previsora)
Fecha: Agosto 15 de 2018
Hora: 19h30
(05) 2652235 – 2652279
………………………..
“

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once. ” – Albert Einstein

When one steps into a gallery or museum, they probably don’t think about the stories behind the paintings. Painting can be hard work, especially when ‘the good brushes’ no longer hold a point, and locally-purchased new ones make poor replacements. It is difficult to ‘nail’ the snippet of light on a bird’s eye or sign one’s name when using a brush that flares at the point! Even one AWOL hair on that brush will leave its renegade signature where it doesn’t belong!  Aside from my friends and family in the USA, I also miss the convenience of buying my favorite art supplies!


Painting for me is easy when compared to the next step of matting and framing those works – and having places to store the paintings. There are no ‘Michaels’ or ‘Fads and Frames’ that offer good quality brushes, paints, mats, ready-made or custom-made frames. The larger cities have better options, but what if those cities are hours and hours away? Over the years I’ve adapted, and now use thin plywood as ‘mats,’ which I sand and paint. Just like selecting custom mats at a frame shop, I usually draw and hand paint those windows; when the paint is dry, the original is carefully taped in place.

Ready to paint that window!

“Tres Toucanes”

Because many panes of glass have broken over the years (ha, and in earthquakes!) I now use very-thick clear plastic, which protects the paintings from dust and fingerprints. The curious public can sometimes damage a drawing or painting by touching it…

Ugh; I often forget to photograph the work until it’s beneath the plastic.!

Frames are made by local carpenters; I dole out the requests a few at a time, and almost always they are ready when promised. Continue reading →

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A friend says that he loves my stories, but it's a shame that I'm in an institution in Mississippi and making this all up!

(What do you think?)

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PLEASE, do not upload my images to Facebook, Pinterest or Travel Guides and claim that you have ownership!

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without written permission from this blog’s author and owner is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN!

Excerpts and links may be used, provided that CLEAR CREDIT is given to Lisa Brunetti and https://playamart.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

© Lisa Brunetti, Playamart, Zeebra Designs & Destinations and Zeebra Maps, 2008-2022/present.

‘Step into my World” – Seeing Through the Eyes & Heart of an Artist’ – Museo Portoviejo Ecuador – October 28, 2021 – Jan 2023

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