The first animal drawing Owen Fitzpatrick remembers doing is a Mandarin duck.
This type of duck has a red bill, reddish face, purple breast, and two orange “sails” on its back.
“My first Mandarin duck was pretty good, it wasn’t too good, it was pretty good,” says Owen, noting that was two years ago and he’s a much better artist now.
Another one of his earlier drawings, done at about the same time, was a bird of paradise. Birds of paradise are known for their colourful and elaborate feathers. Animals, and especially birds, are one of Owen’s favourite subjects to draw. He also enjoys drawing mythological creatures.
The nine-year-old particularly likes to work on fine detail and adding colour.
“I like drawing with pencils and coloured pencils. I really like making details, but I also like pastels,” he explains. “I don’t really like painting, you can’t do details.”
Owen has attended some weekend workshops and a March Break camp at North Vancouver Community Arts Council. Participating in an art workshop or taking a class can be fun because you can do new projects you hadn’t thought of and work with materials you might not have, notes Owen.
The March Break program he went to was called Birds of a Feather with instructor Jeri Engen. “Jeri’s a really good teacher because she does interesting projects that usually turn out good,” says Owen.
Other projects he really liked doing with the community arts council include drawing a parrot on black paper and drawing on some sort of gelatin material. One weekend course he took featured a trip to Maplewood Farm to draw the animals there. That was a bit more work than drawing an animal from a picture on an iPad, notes Owen. “They were walking around and it was harder to draw them.”
Once he starts a project, Owen really likes to finish it and he keeps pretty much everything he makes. His drawing notebook is three-quarters full. “I literally keep everything I do. If I start something and I don’t like it I keep it anyway,” he says.
Learning to draw has been easy for Owen, and he continues to learn new techniques. “Sometimes I just doodle stuff,” he says.
Sometimes he even doodles on his work at school, he admits with a laugh.
This story originally appeared in print as part of a special advertising feature of the North Shore News that focuses on activites for kids.
