my summer 2020 sketches.
our balcony;
a seashell with Moscow skyline
my first Nautilus shell, swapped from a friend.
we're treating a common swift. These birds are fragile, and if they take a hard fall there's only a small chance to get them back to health. Common swifts spend summers in Europe so we see (and hear!) them every summer in Moscow. However, this was the first time I saw one up close. A friend of mine found the bird and brought it to us. We’ve tried to nurture it back to health, learnt how to feed it (adult swifts dont normally eat in captivity so you have to force-feed them or to train to do so), provided it with meds, calm space and our love. We spent a few months together. Unfortunately, the vet gave a wrong prescription that affected the bird’s digestion and by autumn the swift passed away. She was in a company by another swift then, and I want to think we did more good then wrong by taking her in and trying to care for her instead of euthanizing it on sight, but I don’t think there’s a way to know that for sure.
All in all caring for a bird was a tough (and valuable) experience. I felt very hopeful in the beginning as we had a positive forecast and devastated when it turned out the swift is not going to fly anymore. I appreciate birds even more now, after having to tend to one’s very specific needs))
my first sketch of the swift. this is one of the early days when the bird is still in shock from the fall. funny enough, that made it a perfect model as it sat still all day. After a few days with vitamins and painkillers it got way more active!
Left page: the first sketch of the swift on day 3. the bird is stressed and barely moves its head.
Right page: a study of the swifts' head and posture. day 5. the bird moves around more.
Left page: a diagram of feeding process. unfortunately, adult birds don't eat in captivity, so we have to force-feed it.
Right page: a study of the right wing. I only got to draw the flight feathers before the swift started expressing signs of stress and was returned to his residence.
Left page: more on the feeding practice.
Right page: a brief sketch of a pond not far from home. We couldn’t leave for long as there’s only 3-4 hours between feeding time for swift, so it set an extra set of boundaries on top of COVID restrictions already in place. So this pond was one of the few places I’d go to recharge before coming back to the routine.
A challenging summer, as the whole year
