Here is the finished Cockatoo. I have to say I did lose a little interest in completing this piece. We had a disastrous week and I know some will say "I told you so" and rightly so . We were feeding the Lorikeets and along came these big beautiful Cockatoos The Cockatoos are notorious for their destruction of gardens....Nevertheless
Nev was in raptures with the camera having so many lovely birds to photograph... so there was a need to feed all these birds so they will keep coming in for the photo shots. We even got to feed these gentle giants by hand. One morning this week Nev woke up and ventured outside to see the birds and feed them . OMG What a mess. The Cockatoos decided they would help themselves to the bucket of seed that had a lid on and was on the patio in a corner out of sight. They managed to remove the lid, had a good feed and while they were on the patio they thought they would do a little damage and chew through a lot of the branches on the plants on the patio. Beautiful Port Wine Magnolias, New plants that were waiting to be planted to make hedges in the garden, Blueberry shrubs etc.
We regretably have had to stop feeding the birds as we cannot feed some birds and say Hey you Cockatoos can't have any....They will just keep coming and multiplying. Shame but that life.
They have been back a couple of days to do more damage... They thought revenge is sweet. After covering all the plants with hessian that we can and taking the blueberries into the garage each night as they are in pots also the Port Wine Magnolias.
They have finally given up their destruction . HURRAY!!!!.
There are always lessons to be learnt in life. We feel sad that we can no longer feed the Rainbow Lorikeets as the Cockatoos are still around and watching, waiting for more food. Maybe soon we can feed the Lorikeets just for a short time each day and keep a vigilant look out for the Cockatoos.
24 comments:
What a shame Dors - we do live and learn. Anyway your completed cockatoo is absolutely perfect in every way - love it!!! :)
What a gorgeous gentle giant indeed. So sorry for the mass destruction of your garden plants/bushes, Doreen.
Dors,
Incredible - way to go. I love the touches of color.
The birds are gorgeous, even though they may be destructive.
I'm glad you sketched this animal -he / she is gorgeous!
Lynn
gosh, who would have known these beauties could become such "pests"! You truly captured this fella in all his magnificent beauty. Love the feather detail and everything about it, esp. the splash of yellow on the crest and lemon.
In spite of the cockatoo's bad manners, you have done a remarkable piece of art. I love the lemon and the yellow crest. Wonderful work Dors.
Such a beautiful bird sad to hear they are so destructive. Your final piece is stunning as usual, your detail is unreal or should I say real lol :)
Thank you all so much for your kind comments.
I am now ready for a change from the birds. I'll look through our ref photos and see what I can come up with.
Maybe it's time to draw something from the African wild life.
Thanks again. Have a great day.
Perfectly painted Dors! Thank you so much for sharing the process.
Uour so welcome hmuxo I am so glad you enjoyed the process.
Hello Dors! Just had to comment on yet another wonderful peice of art ! They are stunning creatures but we have had the same problems as you. We also feed the Lorikeets and the cockatoos come in and take over stripping the wattle trees and even pecking at the timber french doors on the house next door!
Beautiful work Dors, as always, and I love the bit of color. I love reading about your "adventures" they seem so exotic to me. Sorry for the damage you had, I certainly would have a lot to learn if I lived in your part of the world!!
Hey Dors, Ive kept coming and having a look at your progress, what a beautiful painting. The detail is fantastic, looks mischievous to me. Hope you are keeping away from the floods.
Awwww...Dors, that's not good. Those misbehaving birds need to learn some manners.
Your drawing is naturally amazing!
Stunning work, Dors.
Sad that they are mischievous food pinchers, isn't it?
Thank you all so much for your kind words and comments.
The cockatoos are still coming every couple of days to do their destruction. We love the garden and Nev has worked hard with plants. It's heartbreaking. We have sure learnt our lesson here.
hi Dors
Another beautiful bird from your drawingtable. Excellent.
By the way, what tool do you use to blend out graphite in the early layers?
Thank you Lene for your kind comment. I use a few tools in blending the graphite. mostly a Roymac shaper brush #4 but they are so hard to get now that I have had to purchase a #6. sometimes a chamios cloth, stumps.
You have given me an idea Lene. ;)
I will do a posting with a photo of all the tools I use for graphite. Maybe others will do the same. We can perhaps learn from each other what tools work the best.
Hi Dors,
The cockatoo is outstanding! And I am so sorry they destroyed your garden, that is awful. What interesting birds you have coming to your yard, I am fascinated. Beautiful work Dors.
Sue
It is hard for me to believe that cockatoos can be such a problem as we only see them as pets in a cage here. It sounds like some of our bird feeding problems only with us it is the squirrels. They will come and clean up the bird seed and suet in a minute and they can get very pushy when not being feed. Fortunately our little dog, Rusty, will give chase to them and they are gone in a minute.
Despite all your problems your picture is really great.
thank Dors - even I don't know what a shaperbrush is. What sets it apart from a ordinary brush?
I'll take up the idea and post some tools pic at my blog soon ;)
Thank you Sue... We have some lovely bird that visit us...It is so sad that we cannot chose to feed the ones that do not destroy. Unfortunately the Cockatoos can be aggressive ...they want to be fed when it suits them or they get destructive.
We have had to stop feeding at the moment and the only cure is to put rubber snakes around that deter the bird life..... We are so sad and upset..as the Lorikeets and other lovely birds now suffer. I do hope we can resume feeding the small birds again soon.
Wendy..We need Rusty here for a week or two...LOL. Cockatoos are ok in cages but in the wild they can get very pushy....
Hi Lene. i have scanned the shader brushes for you in a new post.
I have only seen Roymac that make them. They are brilliant little brushes for shading...flat and short... has to be the #4 though. which I cannot get..they are so hard for some reason to get.
The #6 is no where near as good in size. Maybe I can reshape it to be smaller.
If you try Dick Blick..they may have the #4
If you can get one Lene. you will be so thrilled with it.
Love this cockatooo Dors, superb work in Graphite as always.
Thanks so much Vic.
I would like to confess your entire articles appears to be so helpfulsince they bestowwonderful guidances.Wishing u all the best for your future articles and expect them also to help me similar to this.And yes i have digg your site dorsart.blogspot.com .
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