FMMS Sketchbook | Elementary Aviary

Today I’m sharing another sketchbook while getting running my Free Motion Machine Sketching DVD blog tour. This one is called “Elementary Aviary”. In it I use a simple ROYGBIV color palette, one that reminds my of the few big crayons found in those beginning packs for young kids…and I love stitching my bird motifs on things I make for babies, so I thought my birds were a good match for this elementary color palette!

Here’s a quail on a page that features the complementary colors of Fuschia/Green:

These next 2 pages have another fancier quail and a pair of simple birds, again with complementary color pairing.

I continue with complementary pairings, reversing the figure and ground and stitch a simple bird flying away with a Black-capped Chickadee watching the departure:

On this double page spread I’ve got a few baby birds following their mom…I love the tiny one who isn’t even on the patch!

Ooh, I really love the way these two pages work together – the simple reversal of the patches with the blue and green makes my heart sing! And there’s one of the first humming birds I ever sketched, I love that I put the throat patch on him and need to do that more often!

Again we’ve got 2 colors next to each other on the colorwheel, but this time there’s a much greater contrast in value so they pop more. I wonder why all the birds are looking off to the right?

I  close this book with a perching hummingbird – I think he needs a branch!

In my  Free Motion Machine Sketching DVD I show you how to stitch my simple bird, the quail, and the hummingbird. Try it!