{"id":3426,"date":"2023-05-29T10:31:04","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T09:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/?p=3426"},"modified":"2025-09-09T17:36:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:36:26","slug":"skokholm-island-bird-paintings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/skokholm-island-bird-paintings\/","title":{"rendered":"New Skokholm Island Bird Paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I had the pleasure of being invited back to Skokholm Island Bird Observatory, off the coast of Pembrokeshire, this year (May 2023) to paint the latest &#8216;rare bird&#8217; to turn up on the island. The Tennessee Warbler was, as the name suggests a long way from home, when it was seen on the Welsh island last year (2022). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As is the tradition on Skokholm Island the finder of rare birds paints them for posterity on the toilet wall, which due to renovations and modernisation of the observatory buildings, is now a removable board that hangs on the original toilet wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I didn&#8217;t find the rare bird myself, but painted it for Richard Dobbins, the Chair of Skokholm Island Bird Observatory, who did. Richard bent the finder\/painter rules a little by having his own professional artist brought in to help out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/skokholm-bird-paintings-2023.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/skokholm-bird-paintings-2023.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-3427\" alt=\"Colourful bird illustrations on painting table with art supplies in artist\u2019s studio, Chris Chalk, working on detailed bird artwork, vibrant and inspiring mixed media art scene, creative studio environment.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/skokholm-bird-paintings-2023.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/skokholm-bird-paintings-2023-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/skokholm-bird-paintings-2023-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/> <\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Working on the latest rare bird painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133417-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133417-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Skokholm island bird observatory library\" class=\"wp-image-3428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133417-scaled.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133417-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133417-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">The extensive library at Skokholm Island Bird Observatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133238-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133238-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Painting a Tennessee warbler on Skokholm Island. \" class=\"wp-image-3430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133238-scaled.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133238-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Using my own painting for reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133510-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133510-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Artist Chris Chalk painting birds on Skokholm Island\" class=\"wp-image-3432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133510-scaled.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_133510-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Happy artist at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/skokholm-toilet-wall-bird-paintings-chris-chalk-richard-dobbins-wendy-james.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"602\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/skokholm-toilet-wall-bird-paintings-chris-chalk-richard-dobbins-wendy-james.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/skokholm-toilet-wall-bird-paintings-chris-chalk-richard-dobbins-wendy-james.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/skokholm-toilet-wall-bird-paintings-chris-chalk-richard-dobbins-wendy-james-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/skokholm-toilet-wall-bird-paintings-chris-chalk-richard-dobbins-wendy-james-768x514.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Head toilet gallery curators, Richard Dobbins and Wendy James, inspecting the latest acquisitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_121927-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_121927-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Skokholm island bird observatory buildings\" class=\"wp-image-3433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_121927-scaled.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_121927-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.chrischalkart.com\/painting_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230514_121927-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">The complex on Skokholm Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I had a fabulous few days on Skokholm, meeting and spending time with some interesting and passionate people. A big thank you to Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle, the Island&#8217;s wardens, for their hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had the pleasure of being invited back to Skokholm Island Bird Observatory, off the coast of Pembrokeshire, this year [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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