Had a lot of fun with #BirbFest 2026! Ran out of umph part way through, but after drawing gryphons for 100 days straight I figured I needed a break. Here are the birds I finished this month. #BirbFest2026

Day 23 - White-breasted Nuthatch This was a COVID drawing and one that I am rather proud of. Based on my own photo of one of the birds that nest in our yard each year. This illustration is actually included in the Wingspan fan art pack. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Day 18 - Tufted Jay This crazy looking bird deserves a slightly unhinged drawing. Quick one tonight as I catch up. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Day 17 - Spangled Cotinga Getting a bit behind, but still want to draw more birds. This one has amazing, bright, shiny colors that are hard to replicate. Plus I can't get that black undercolor showing through quite right. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Day 16 - Eurasian Wigeon We get a few Eurasian mixed in with the local American Wigeon. The males are easy to pick out with their ruddy heads. The females are tricky, comparing head shape can be helpful for ID. Couple rough sketches to show the difference. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Day 15 - Short-eared Owl When I first got my current camera I got a lucky shot of this owl. Almost all the shots were blurry, except this one. Quick ink and pencil drawing, not perfect. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Day 14 - Silver-eared Mesia Decided to do this one as a gryphon. Silver-eared Mesia combined with Marbled Cat from the same area. #birbfest #BirbFest2026 #art

Day 13 - White Eared-Pheasant An eared pheasant that is white. I exaggerated the 'ear' for which it is named. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Day 12 - Common Redpoll The name comes from the red on its head; poll comes from old words that mean head. Those red feathers are actually quite shiny if you catch them in the right light, or can appear dark/black in poor light. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Here is an inside look at my process on this one. Brush pen ran out of ink part way through. It is a fairly small drawing.

Gryphon sketch from this morning.

Day 11 - Mountain Bluebird Sometimes art comes out meh, oh well. To think I considered breaking out my watercolors before I realized how busy today would be. I've seen the Eastern Bluebird, but never Mountain. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Day 10 - Purple Gallinule We saw this lovely breeding plumage Gallinule in Nova Scotia in 2023 (lost, vagrant bird). The bird reminded us of Kevin from Up. I had this scanned, then that computer crashed, so here is a crappy phone picture instead. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Day 9 - Indian Paradise-Flycatcher We saw the very similar African version on our trip to South Africa. A stunning bird. The white morph worked better for my B&W style, but the reddish one is also beautiful. Quick sketch, my hand is not steady enough for that long tail... #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Day 8 - Andean Cock-of-the-rock Taking a little break today, luckily this is a bird I did last year as part of my colorful birds series. It was tricky to get the color right; the original is a bright orange and it scanned in as sorta salmon, I had to adjust it some. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

100/100 The gryphon challenge is complete! Daily ink gryphons for 100 days straight to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of my first 100 gryphons challenge. The pressure of wanting to do an extra epic gryphon was getting to me, but I pushed through with this phoenix gryphon. #gryphonchallenge

With Steller's Sea-Eagle on the mind I decided to incorporate it into tonight's gryphon. This is the second-last daily gryphon, 99/100. #gryphonchallenge #art

Day 7 - Steller's Sea-Eagle This one has a story, the bird, not the illustration. I actually saw this bird on the East coast of Canada, 10,000 km away from its native range. The famous Steller's Sea-Eagle showed up in 2021 and is still being seen four years later. #birbfest #BirbFest2026 #birdart

Day 6 - Northern Emerald-Toucanet This colorful birb deserves more than a sketch, but that is all I have left tonight. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Liked the suggestion of a Gyrfalcon-Snow Leopard gryphon but oof, all those details! I almost gave up on the wings. Ended up more heavily patterned than planned, but still works. #gryphonchallenge

Any suggestions/requests for the last three days of gryphons? (No guarantees, just brainstorming ideas) #gryphonchallenge

97/100 #gryphonchallenge

Day 5 - King Eider Or the Queen Eider as we called her. We dipped on our first trip, but the second time she was right beside a floating wharf. The wharf was covered in gull poop and broken shells, but I laid on my belly anyway to get low-angle photos. Awesome experience. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

Ran out of energy tonight, so here is a quick, sketchy gryphon. #gryphonchallenge

Day 4 - Golden-headed Manakin This bird looks like a fluffy, black pom-pom with a yellow head. Except when he is dancing, he transforms into a sleek, moon-walking, wing-flashing shapeshifter that moves at lightening speed. #birbfest #BirbFest2026

The countdown is on, 95/100. #gryphonchallenge

Day 3 - Razorbill These alcids are truly at home underwater and it is fascinating to see them 'fly' underwater. Their wings make such different shapes compared to when they are flying, elegant, beautiful. #birbfest #BirbFest2026 #birdart

Still have a few more gryphons to draw if I'm going to make it to 100. Experimenting with what Cinder would look like in color since I got my markers out earlier. I was tempted to do blue flames around her eyes... #gryphonchallenge

Day 2 - Many-colored Rush Tyrant I actually drew this bird as part of my 'colorful birds' series in 2024, so I'm going to share that piece since I joined a day late. #birbfest #BirbFest2026 #BirdArt

Noticed #birbfest pop up and I just can't resist joining in! 1 - Bronzewing Pigeon. Okay, I drew the Crested Pigeon which we saw in Australia so I can reference my own photos, plus it is adorable. It is sort of a bronzewing because it has the trademark iridescent wing patch. #BirbFest2026

Windswept Like the beach where I saw people doing the polar dip today while I searched for a rare bird in the wind and rain. What a cold day to submerge yourself in the frigid atlantic ocean. #gryphonchallenge

Happy New Year! Here's to reaching new heights in 2026. #gryphonchallenge

A few 2025 favourites, mostly from the last three months since that is when most of my drawing happens. It is almost time to hibernate again, although maybe not as deeply as usual? Hoping 2026 will have a bit more drawing. #2025ArtSummary #YearInReview #Art

Looking back through 2025 and found this chaotic Umbreon that I figured I should share. #pokemon

Saw a Ruffed Grouse displaying in a subdivision today on the Christmas Bird Count. Hard to believe they have all those big, black 'ruff' feathers tucked away under their neck plumage. #gryphonchallenge

We have another Christmas Bird Count tomorrow, weather looks iffy. Wonder if we will find anything interesting? #gryphonchallenge

Balance, daily gryphon #89. I think I prefer Cinder with heavy inking... but it is so easy to loose details that way. This produces a better matchup with SunCat anyhow. #gryphonchallenge

Time for a long winter nap. #gryphonchallenge

That slightly unhinged, overtired state. #gryphonchallenge

Merry Christmas everyone! Now it is time for bed. #gryphonchallenge

Happy Christmas Eve! #gryphonchallenge

A freehand gryphon drawn without a sketch last night. I did a bunch of sketching and nothing was coming together, so I focused in and went straight to ink. #gryphonchallenge

A fast gryphon for a tired night. #gryphonchallenge

Feeling rather low-energy today, but found some space earlier to ink a gryphon or two. #gryphonchallenge

On the hunt. Today was our Christmas Bird Count and Alex managed to spot a Peregrine Falcon. Here is a Peregryphon based on one of my photos of a Peregrine hunting shorebirds. Should have drawn it a bit bigger so I had more room for the details. #gryphonchallenge

In 2015 I did InkTober for the first time and decided to ink daily gryphons for the month of October. After that finished, I drew another, and another and eventually set a goal for 100 and managed to achieve it! Now that story and art is in my self-published book: 100 Gryphons.

It is a wild night out there, so here is a wild gryphon! Power has been out three times now and we could lose it again at any time. Better get this done and posted before I'm drawing by candlelight! #gryphonchallenge

Alright, gryphon #79, should I call it quits at 80? or keep going for 100? Phew, drawing through Christmas might be tough. #gryphonchallenge

A happy little flying gryphon sketch. #gryphonchallenge

Running out of energy for these daily gryphons. Really I just need to do them earlier in the day! #gryphonchallenge