Magpies: learn to fly & food call. Contest entry for bird-themed fabric. I used black pencil and black & white oil paint for the magpies, black stamped brushwork for the barbed wire #600, & pencil for the grass (#9dc9ba) outlined with black, against a blue Australian sky (my chosen colour, #4ac0ff); half-drop repeat. © Su Schaefer 2011

With acknowledgments to Gisela Kaplan's Australian Magpie (2004) with its wonderful pictures & information on this highly sociable, adaptive survivor. A 'learn to fly' only version of this design is here.

Pencil & oil on paper; stamped brushwork & clipart. [300 ppi]