Painting and Birding 'round the Long Island Sound

I revisit this LONG neglected blog in order to put my latest collection of paintings in context, though it is a bit outside the stated theme of "'round the Long Island Sound".   This was a new adventure.  For the entire month of December, 2023, I was aboard the HX Expedition (formerly Hurtigruten) ship MS Roald Amundsen, visiting Antarctica and the Falkland Islands.  As a guest lecturer, I was there to discuss the role artists played in early Antarctic exploration, but I was also teaching and creating art on board.  It is this latter role that I will highlight here, using the watercolor paintings and drawings that I produced on the trip.  Although I was aboard for two consecutive trips, each one followed a similar itinerary so I will treat them as one.

Most of my work was done in these two places, plus sketches done ashore.  The outside deck was restricted to less windy days, so most of the more legible work was done on deck 10, in the lounge.  From its ample windows, I had good views to both sides.

Antarctica is unique for many reasons, not least being its isolation.  It is fully encircled by ocean, a continuous expanse of water that wraps  completely around the globe.  Its narrowest squeeze is between South America and the Antarctic peninsula, a 600 mile wide stretch called the Drake Passage.  Most travel to Antarctica passes this way, though it is notorious for rough weather.  Having said this, my trips were lucky; we had mild weather and fairly gentle seas, even a few days of the so called "Drake Lake".

The Southern Ocean is famous for the far-traveling albatrosses, and there was rarely a moment without one or more in sight.  This one is a Light-mantled Albatross, easily my favorite of the trip.

Some sketchbook pages from the Drake passage.  It took a lot of sketches like this for me to unlock the visual language of these stunning seabirds, a lesson that is still a work-in-progress!

Here is a Light-mantled Albatross more front and center.  Such elegance!

The water is getting rougher here, but the birds don't seem to mind!  In fact they are at home in the blustery wind, masters of their domain.  Above are shown Southern Giant Petrel, an ever-present ship-follower; Royal Albatross, one of the largest and yes, majestic; and lastly Antarctic Petrel, a species that was not generally common except for a brief spell during the first trip.

Sketchbook pages like this document my learning process.  Bits and pieces, some getting close, others still crude.  These soaring seabirds of the Drake never stopped moving, but usually hung around for a while, giving me plenty of time to observe and absorb.

Here is a color version of one of my sketches above.  The Cape Petrel is one of the most common "ship followers", well-known to travelers on the Drake.  Their striking pattern makes them easily recognized.

I was captivated by the different moods of the Drake, and though it was often the play of light or wind on the waves that first drew my attention, many times I couldn't help including the birds who were so often in sight.  Above is a Wilson's Storm Petrel, a small bird that skitters over the surface of the water, sometimes dabbling its feet in the brine.  They are abundant, and often fluttered into view while I was training my binoculars on something else.

The weather was rougher on my second trip. Not too bad, but there were noticeably fewer passengers about.  Still birds, such as these Black-browed Albatross, and sometimes... whales!

This was a Humpback, the most common whale of the trip.  We also had Orca during our first Drake crossing, but I was to have better views later.  It takes two days to cross the Drake, but it is anything but monotonous!   It was interesting to witness the shift in bird life as the air-and especially the water- got colder.  It was in the evening of the first day that the call went out- first iceberg on the starboard side!  Though in my pajamas, I rushed to the nearest window to see it, sketchbook in hand.  Later, in my cabin, I did this watercolor sketch:

Not very good, but I was to get to know icebergs better over the coming days!