I haven’t been taking photos of raptors lately. I think I need to devote my next free day to hitting the open western road, solely in search of raptors.
I took this photo last winter at Farmington Bay, in Utah. I miss that place. Idaho has good raptors, but nothing compares to the close looks that you obtain at Farmington Bay.
Ferruginous Hawk- Buteo regalis. 8×11″ Prismacolor on bristol
I’m currently in the midst of my first semester of graduate school. I’m pursuing a degree in raptor biology, which entails loads of technical study and analytical understanding. While I’ve saturated myself with technical thinking, I often feel the urge to exercise creativity. This urge has come to conflict with my current aspirations and responsibilities, but after some reflection, I’ve settled on a solution to this conflict by accepting the urges and managing my time in a way that allows me to embrace and express my creativity. I really believe that in the end, maintaining a creative outlet will ultimately strengthen my study of raptors, and strengthen my critical thinking.
Rough-legged Hawk- Buteo lagopus. 8×11″ prismacolor on bristol.
I’ve featured two Illustrations that I’ve done since I started classes. I am going to continue with the raptor illustrations, but I’ve decided to start focusing on painting again as well. If anyone has a request of something they would like to see me illustrate or paint, feel free to let me know. I always appreciate a little direction.
HawkWatch International recently released a few shirt designs featuring artwork of mine. My friend Mike Shaw had the great idea for a design that took a field guide type format, and put it on the shirt. The shirts feature two Buteos, the Red-tailed Hawk- Buteo jamaicensis, and the Rough-legged Hawk- Buteo lagopus. These illustrations feature callouts that give the viewer a few key tips at identifying the bird. I love the idea, and the shirts turned out great.
A little background on the development of one shirt, the Red-tailed Hawk, might be interesting to some. I really love this illustration for its purity. While counting the raptor migration last fall on the Goshutes Raptor Migration Site in eastern Nevada, I had plenty of time in the evenings to sit by candle light and draw some of the things I saw that day. This illustration was done at nine thousand feet, on the top of a mountain, in the middle of the magic of migration, by candle light. It makes it more special to me, and I hope those that now know where that illustration was born, might enjoy it all the more. I love things with a story attached.
Here are a few images of the illustration on the mountain:
The inception of the illustration
The result, with a splash of the candle light that helped create the image
If you would like to check out the shirts, or would like to buy any HawkWatch International merchandise follow the link below:
New Shirt Designs Featuring the Art of B William Robinson
HawkWatch International is an incredible organization. I encourage you to support them by purchasing one of their new items. To be transparent, I do not benefit financially from the sales of these shirts. I simply want to see more people joining conservation initiatives. It would be neat to meet someone on the road that I didn’t know from Adam, garnished in one of these shirts, supporting and spreading the good will of conservation, and of course the knowledge and fun of raptor ID.
I produced this video for HawkWatch International to help support their citizen science programs, specifically their winter raptor surveys. If you would like to be involved in their winter surveys, or any other citizen science programs they currently have, you can find out more at http://www.hawkwatch.org.
ornithologi.com 