Both the golden-cheeked warbler and my general love for birdwatching inspired the start of this piece last summer. I decided to pick up the sketch again and work on its lettering and line art.
First pass vector art for the lettering in Illustrator. The last two letters still need more work...
I first created the shapes in Illustrator, and I am now editing them in Photoshop.
Throughout my time in Central Texas, I’ve learned so much about what it means to be a birdwatcher and a naturalist. During the past two years, I’ve learned a lot about native flora and fauna, their habitats, volunteering opportunities, and citizen science through my local Texas Master Naturalist chapter. My involvement has helped me understand the connection between loving wildlife and caring for the natural environment that we share. My studies have also helped strengthen the foundation for my personal art as well.
The golden-cheeked warbler is very popular here, given its unique preference for breeding in Central Texas. Unfortunately, this little one is an endangered species. So I am quite proud to say that I’ve seen one at its nest, with help from a birding event held by Travis Audubon back in early 2019. It was quite hard to spot this warbler, because it prefers to be active high up in the trees. According to Audubon, they nest in juniper and a few other deciduous trees (oak, pecan, etc.). The curly strips in this art piece are based on ashe juniper bark, since that is the golden-cheeked warbler's primary source for nesting material. As a result of human development in Central Texas, the habitat for these warblers is being threatened. I’ve been trying to learn more about local efforts to protect these birds and various other species by volunteering with organizations focused on the Balcones Canyonlands.
To view more images of the golden-cheeked warbler, check out this iNaturalist search. iNaturalist is a wondrous platform that makes getting into citizen science easy. It's sort of like a real-life version of Pokemon Snap? Sometimes I’ll sit on the app forever exploring wildlife spotted in my own neighborhood. I also use iNaturalist to find specific plants in town, for my library of reference photos. I sometimes post pictures of bugs or birds I come across, and the community helps me figure out its taxonomy or ID. The app’s AI also helps guess what sort of flora or fauna species are in your picture uploads (great for identifying and avoiding poison ivy on a nature trail).
Original sketch from July 2020
Photos of ashe juniper trees, from a trail maintenance hike last fall (Nov. 2020)
A pic of myself out in the wild. Of all of the trash my friend and I found on the trail, old pet waste baggies were the most noticeable and one of the most common finds. We also picked up various forms of plastic. With reliable trash grabbers and the right safety measures, this activity can be quite fun. Although there had been trash settled in hard-to-reach spaces, we were also pleasantly surprised to find that the trail was relatively clean. At least volunteers seem to visit that park and help often.
Thanks for reading! Hoping to post more progress on my Golden piece soon.
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