Cardinals (Draw-a-Bird Day)

neocolor cardinal s

red
vibrant, primary,
the first color
unfurling hope and renewal
cardinal

watercolor cardinal s

gouache cardinal s

morning in April
grey stillness   light caught in trees
cardinal whistles

pencil cardinal s

flying cardinal s

dancing
on feathers the
air under wings flying
lines of lightness remembering
a song

stitched cardinal bs

We celebrate birds on the 8th of every month, but today, April 8, is the “official” Draw a Bird Day.  A-Wing and A-Way once again posted about the yearly celebration, and Laura at Create Art Everyday began the monthly series last year.  Nina and I are hosting until her schedule becomes more manageable.

You can read the story of the day’s origins here.  This cinquain is for Dorie Cooper, who began it all.

cheerful
robin softly
appears as answer, as
laughter to soothe wounded spirits
look!  spring.

stitched robin bs

The cinquains answer Jane Dougherty’s challenge.  The haiku was the original NaPoWriMo poem I wrote for this post.

Artwork details, from top to bottom:  neocolor, watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, ink with colored pencil.  I recently found the stitched birds in a bin in my closet; at one time I made embroidered bird napkins in the hopes of selling them, and these are from my prototypes.

To join in, put a link to your drawing or poem (poets welcome!) in the comments below, by copying and pasting the https for your post.  We will do a round-up of all the birds sometime next week.

poetry month

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About memadtwo

For more madness, follow me on Instagram @h_zimel methodtwomadness is a blog of two friends, Nina and Kerfe kblog is Kerfe's solo branch on the tree

75 responses to “Cardinals (Draw-a-Bird Day)”

  1. Laura (Createarteveryday) says :

    Kerfe! You’ve outdone yourself with so many beautiful works of art! How many different mediums have you got going on here? Is one of them watercolor and then do I see acrylic? I see colored pencil for sure. All of them beautiful, and such wonderful shapes; you’ve captured the stateliness of the cardinal so well. Love the colors in the colored pencil version. Wonderful expressive lines. Nobody does it like you (in my Carly Simon trill)! Love the verses too and the special dedication at the end. We may have to start calling you Chris Davis; you keep knocking it out of the park! I want to thank you and Nina once again for keeping DABD going during my busy season. I’m sure Michael will be so thrilled to see your post today! Bless you. 💜❤️💛

    Liked by 1 person

    • memadtwo says :

      The mediums are listed at the bottom…I haven’t gotten to the acrylics yet, but I’m enjoying gouache.
      Yes, the O’s are off to a good start…I’m not sure if orioles are on the childhood bird list, but they definitely need a feature!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Jane Dougherty says :

    Lovely—the poems and the pictures. I especially love the cardinal in flight. Gorgeous!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. D.S. says :

    These cardinals are all so wonderful! I just love birds — as much as I love the trees they mostly inhabit — and I think Draw a Bird Day is a great idea for spurring on art, yes, but also for focusing on these precious creatures. Happy TGIF! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Michael Richards (certainline) says :

    Cardinals – my favourite American birds! Thank you, Kerfe, my day is brightened by your wonderful work.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. rivrvlogr says :

    The cinquain are great, as is the art, of course. So many people focus on the red of the male cardinal. I love that you’ve included female, and very well done.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Sharon Mann says :

    A beautiful and lively flock of birds, Kerfe, I can here all of the chirping and chatting. Your words today are very fitting.
    I’ve join in for draw bird day, here is my link: www. mondaytuesdaywednesday.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Teresa Robeson says :

    Goodness, you really go all out when you post, Kerfe! 🙂 I love all the different iterations but especially the one in flight. ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    • memadtwo says :

      I’m using that childhood bird list as a spur to trying different mediums. Since I know what the next bird is, I have no excuse not to get started! Although I do usually spend about 2 weeks being anxious about it before I get to work.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. weisserwatercolours says :

    ….I especially enjoy your devotion to depicting the female, whose colourations are perhaps less dramatic, but to me, even more beautiful than the males (IMO). Lovely.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Susan Feniak says :

    Awesome, over used word but I have to say it, awesome

    Liked by 1 person

  10. circadianreflections says :

    So many beautiful Cardinals! We don’t have them out here and I long to see one or a pair. Your featured male, and the first female are my favorites of this series.

    P.S. I love your hand embroidered napkin!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. memadtwo says :

    I would buy those napkins in a minute. Love all your birds and the use of so many different mediums. Great job.

    Like

    • memadtwo says :

      Everyone in my family seemed happy to accept them as gifts! That seems to be my problem…no one wants to buy what I make, but they make great gifts…

      Like

      • circadianreflections says :

        Years ago I embroidered placemats for my M-i-L with a garden flowers and butterflies. She liked them so much she never used them. I wish she had. I have no idea what ever happened to them. I hope you use these or at least take them out to look at once in awhile. They’re beautiful. I would buy them and use them…of course I’d probably ruin them with tea stains, but I’d use them!

        Liked by 1 person

        • memadtwo says :

          My family is full of bird lovers, so everyone picked out the birds they liked and I distributed them. I hope they use them too! All I have left are the experiments, but I’m glad I found them too.

          Liked by 1 person

  12. Jill Kuhn says :

    Your Cardinals are beautiful! I love all the different art mediums too.
    Here is my link to my bird for today’s challenge: https://artjillkuhn.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/a-joyful-bird/

    Like

  13. Jodi says :

    WOWZA K! So many talents you have!!! So much beauty to take in. I must come back later when not so busy! Thank you for sharing and for hosting! xo

    Here is my Friday Flamingo for #DrawaBirdDay! – Horray! 🙂 https://lifeinbetween.me/2016/04/08/pink-flamingo-draw-a-bird-day/

    Like

  14. Lynz Real Cooking says :

    These are simply beautiful!

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Snehal Kank says :

    Oh My God! What a fabulous work Kerfe! I love each and every bird, they are just awesome! Specially Neo and Watercolor are so so so pretty! 😍

    Liked by 2 people

  16. M.R. Emberson says :

    Beautiful cardinals, Kerfe, and a very touching cinquain. You covered just about every artistic medium out there! By the way, here’s the link to the demoiselle crane: https://awingandaway.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/happy-draw-a-bird-day/. Many thanks to you and Nina for putting all this together!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Nicola says :

    these are all stunning! and I remembered draw a bird day for once, I’m glad it was the official one 🙂 https://inkflamingos.com/2016/04/08/birds-on-a-dead-branch/

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Sunshine Jansen says :

    Between your eruption of color and Nina’s peaceful owls I can’t decide whether I want to get energized or take refuge — so I guess I’ll take turns!

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Teri C says :

    Love ll the various poses of the birds. Cardinals are so strikingly beautiful in nature.
    This is my first time for th bird a day so not sure if I’m doing it right but here is my link. https://teri2creations.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/draw-a-bird-day/

    Liked by 2 people

  20. cavepainter says :

    These cardinals are neat. I like the embroidered idea. 🙂

    I made something here- https://artrelatedblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/draw-a-bird-day-black-throated-sparrow/

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Charlie O'Shields (doodlewash) says :

    Wow!! Wonderful post!! So many awesome birds!! This is incredible!! ❤️❤️😃

    Better late than never, here’s my entry for the month!
    https://doodlewash.com/2016/04/08/draw-a-picture-of-a-bird-day/#more-19945

    Like

  22. REcreate-RebeccaEvansCreate says :

    Amazing, so many beautiful styles, of a stunning bird, I so fell in love with the coloured pencil, in flight bird, just superb. Great post thank you, and here is a bird I did at the beginning of the month, as work did not allow me to fit painting in the last few days…..just too tired.
    https://rebeccaevanscreate.com/2016/03/31/cock-sure/

    Liked by 1 person

  23. YesterdayAfter says :

    Hi Kerfe and Nina what a wonderful celebration for the Draw a Bird Day! I love your Cardinals they are so beautiful you captured them in different mediums great work! sorry I am a bit late but yesterday I posted my celebration and if you like you can see it…. here is my entry for the month!

    https://yesterdayafter.com/2016/04/08/april-celebration-today-is-draw-a-picture-of-a-bird-day/

    Happy weekend ❤
    Carolina

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Myriam (Myr's Bytes) says :

    Oh yay! I love your monthly assortment of birds. I am amazed and delighted by this months beautiful birds in so many different styles. And super lovely too, that you wove poetic words through your images.

    My Coppersmith Barbet is here: https://myrsbytes.com/2016/04/08/draw-a-bird-day-2/

    Thanks for hosting!

    Liked by 1 person

  25. artandmoondreams says :

    Love all the paintings and renderings of the cardinals and robin, a real treasure that have such energy and life. The poetry is equally brilliant and adds its voice nicely to the chorus of birds presented. A wonderful and joyful celebration of the day. Thank you for hosting, here is my humble offering: https://artandmoondreams.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/draw-a-bird-day-kolea/

    Like

  26. davekingsbury says :

    Fab … let’s hope these pictures don’t turn out to be mementos for future generations.

    Liked by 1 person

  27. merrildsmith says :

    A beautiful series of drawings and poems. I love the male and female cardinals. Wonderful!

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Carol says :

    Cardinals are one of my favorite birds, and I love your colorful renditions! So lively! Hope I am not too late to make the list of birdies for April. Thanks for compiling the list, whether or not I am in time 🙂 https://carolscreativepapers.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/annual-draw-a-bird-day-april-2016/

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Léa says :

    Delightful!

    Liked by 1 person

  30. om pom happy says :

    Particularly love the embroideries. Fantastic!

    Liked by 1 person

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