I saw my first Willet thanks to my friend Don Brown. While living in New Jersey years ago, I drove out to Jones Beach, Long Island, to go birding with him. Jones Beach is known for great winter birds, and it didn’t disappoint.
Birding with Don on that cold winter day was not only fun, but also different from outings with typical birders. His descriptions were pretty funny. Don instructed me, “Scan the dunes for plastic grocery bags. Those often turn out to be Snowy Owls.” Sure enough, we got a few snowy owls that way, and they were the same size and color as the grocery bags. Later he told me, “Watch the outlets of the little streams going into the ocean. Those are good places for Harbor Seals. If you stare out there, eventually you’ll see what looks like a Labrador retriever pop its head up briefly. Its nostrils will flap wide open, and then it’ll sink right back down.” Son of a gun. That’s exactly what they looked like.
Later we went back to Don’s place, where he showed me his studio and a stack of watercolors he was working on for an upcoming children’s book. His paintings always blow me away because we work in such completely different ways. I’m slow, methodical and use tons of glazing and layers, building lots of detail. Don is able to hit each page with a few key washes and ink things up to have a perfect, fresh, energetic painting. It looks like he just whips them off, but I know how much time is spent in preparation and the number of attempts it takes before things work right!
Have a peek at some of Don’s amazing work at Booksbybrown.com.
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