Just back from a week-long sketching and painting trip to the wilds of Estonia… We were four – myself and three bird, flower and plant experts /nerds – and we used every opportunity to watch, collect, observe, photograph, listen and draw and paint (me) the local flora and fauna. The song of the Cuckoo and nightingale were our constant companions. 

The whole country (at least what we saw of it) is heavily forested. Very flat and rather unspoilt. The population density seemed very low, and we saw only fleeting glimpses of the locals. Based on my mostly hire car-based superficial musings, there seemed to be a strange mixture of things going on – on the one hand an obviously neglected and decaying Soviet-era industrial and agricultural infrastructure, but juxtaposed with an assured Nordic sophistication and an influx of Euro-wealth (at least, in the metropolitan centres). Non-existent signage to a bird tower, but with a beautifully translated English description. Weird.

We started off by basing ourselves deep in the woods by Lihula, where we made several trips to the forests and marshes in the surrounding areas. Whilst we missed out on the big concentrations of migrating birds, and were perhaps a little early for the flowers, there was still lots happening and passing through. Highlights included a HUGE flock of Barnacle Geese (6,000? All of which at one point put up by a sea eagle, which were also very numerous) and an obliging Lesser Spotted Eagle. We then moved on to Sareemaa (an island) where I stayed put while they went off looking for orchids. We spent the last few days just north of Haapsalu where we went looking for marshes and bogs. At one wonderful location there were Black Grouse, Montague’s Harriers, Black Kites and Lesser Spotted Eagles all flapping about  in front of me. Almost too much to take in. Amazing.

Anyway, I ended up getting lots of sketching done – actually mostly of birds I see here at home – but the light was good and the birds were performing. Some House Martins collecting mud for their nests… some back-lit Swans battling a strong wind…. Yellow Wagtails prancing about on some sleeping sheep… the monotonous song of the Great Reed Warbler… these are some of the things I took back and will be working on… And thanks to my companions for taking on the lion’s share of the organising, planning and driving…

I’m in the process of trying to get funding to take an exhibition of five artists working on Bornholm (including me) to exhibit at the Oxmarket Gallery in Chichester. The exhibition is called ‘Earthbound’ as we all take our primary inspiration from the natural environment of Bornholm. What with transport, insurance, lodging and so on, it’s quite an ambitous undertaking, but I am really excited at the thought of showing off Bornholm art to a wider audience.

The artists are – me, Barbara Sørensen (mostly oils), Eva Brandt (ceramics), Hans Henning Pedersen (wooden vessels) and Lone Schiøtz Nielsen (watercolours and prints). Three rejections already, but my fingers are crossed – I really hope we get some support for this as I’m convinced this will be a Good Thing.

…is a charismatic and enigmatic bird. I was lucky enough to have recently been loaned a dead nightjar by a birdwatcher here on Bornholm, who had found it dead (struck by a car I think?). The breast was quite damaged, one wing was broken and many tail feathers were missing, but it was still amazing to get so close to a bird that I had only ever heard ‘churring’, or seen very fleetingly before.

When you get the chance to really look at a bird like this, you get the opportunity to witness all of the incredible adaptations and peculiarities that each bird has. The hard feather-bristles around the beak, the strange serrated comb on its claw, the long and graceful hawk-like wings. And its beak! It actually looked quite small and sweet (or so thought my daughter) until you open its mouth, and then you can see the incredible gape. With its huge mouth and bristles it resembles nothing but a minature airborne baleen whale – so said my daughter, and she was quite right.

And then the markings! Incredibly detailed and intricate. A (young?) female. Out in the field I’m always telling myself not to get too bogged down in the details, but here, in the luxury of the studio, with a immobile subject, I relish the opportuinty to really lose myself in the details. I tend to get into an almost zen-like state, for hours on end my eye caresses each feather, and I start to see the rhythms within the patterns of the plumage. Each bird has this – the way that the colours and/or markings alter and metamorphse as you work your way ‘through’ the feathers – there is a pattern there to be discovered, and there was so much to discover with this bird.

After four days, however, it was time to put it back in the freezer. Despite painting with the window open and the heating off, it all got a bit ‘much’ at the end. Next up, a common partridge I found just before Christmas…

The weather has been so awful recently. Rain, wind and no sunlight. I’ve been keeping myself busy with drawing the tree and house sparrows that congregate on the hawthorn bush right outside my studio door (they sit there and preen  and chatter, before they swoop down and steal all my chicken’s food).

I don’t usually attempt to draw the smaller passerines – anything smaller that a blackbird usually moves too quickly – but the sparrows are there all the time, so there is nearly always a ‘new model’ on hand. I’m going to make it my mission to really keep these going and see where it takes me.