Karena Gregg

Jack Solomon would like 3RBC members to be aware of Karena Gregg's email from Jen Brumfield and her email to him regarding her trip to Waggoner's Gap and Cape May.

Karena's email to Jack:
In mid-October, my father and I visited Waggoner's Gap and Cape May. At Cape May we went on a bird walk with Pete Dunne. Later that morning, I met him again at the CMBO.  I showed him several of my drawings and asked him to autograph one with three accipiter heads. Pete told me he had to decline because he thought it would be desecrating it, but I told him it would be an honor for him to do so. He wrote, "To Karena, Who has a great eye and an artist's hand."

I also met Tom Magarian, the official counter at Cape May. I think he was impressed with my bird ID skills, particularly at distant birds.

While we were at the observation platform, a bus load of birders from Cleveland showed up. One of the guides was Jen Brumfield, the editor of the youth ABA periodical. I am attaching a copy of the e-mail she sent me when I got home. I thought you might want to see it.

She helped me decide what my senior project would be. I plan to start a website and sell prints and t-shirts of some of the best drawings.

I wanted to thank you and Sue and all of the Three Rivers Birding Club for all the opportunities you guys have given me. 
Karena 

Jen Brumfield Email to Karena:
Karena and Scott,
Merely a few hours ago our group returned home (Cleveland, Ohio) from Cape May. It was an awesome 5 days to spend. We ticked 105 species...not too bad, considering the 40+ people we had! Some highlights were Parasitic Jaegers, Great Cormorant, nice looks at 3 Clapper Rails, a great afternoon of hawks (some Merlins, lots of Sharpies and Coops, Peregrines...), and among others, thousands of Yellow-rumps everywhere.

It was so very good to meet you. And I sincerely appreciate your showing of Karena's artwork. I'm flabbergasted. I hope you don't mind....I met up with Michael O'Brien, Pete Dunne, and Louise Zemaitis and spoke very highly of her skills to them, for quite awhile. I gave Louise your information (that you so kindly gave to me) and continually encouraged her to contact you, at some point. She was delighted.

Karena, I am not a world famous scientific illustrator, but I've been around. I've seen many a young birders' artistic efforts - their styles and compositions - and I will say very openly and encouragingly that your work is quite literally stunning. You are a very, very talented young lady, and you must continue to put your pens and pencils to paper. You should not stop. And you should tactfully choose to submit your work to publications and contests that would benefit your appearance and visibility in the field of birding and natural history publication. Stay with whatever classes you may be taking to learn new techniques, but hold tight to what you feel is the way you most enjoy and best express your work on paper. Your grasp of shape, form, and character of species is bordering on flawless. No artist (whether Bateman, or Jonsson, or Sibley...) can EVER create a complete and perfect likeness to the real THING, but true talent comes in the form of expressing a solid view and understanding and experience of observation and time spent in the field with their quarry. Your father (and surely, your mother) are most obviously incredibly supportive of your efforts and abilities and talents. I met you for mere minutes and this was obvious. My mother and father are the same. Thank them for their support and encouragement, and allow this blessing to help you realize your abilities.

The five or six illustrations I saw have left a permanent mark in my memory, and I'm very grateful to have met a young birder of your artistic talents.

It's very encouraging and enlightening.

I will only offer this: get out into the field as much as possible. SEE everything. SEE the way that birds fly, the way they turn and whip and dip and flutter and feed. Watch everything that they do. Look at their faces....look at their expressions. Find character and individuality in their ways. Continue to express this in your illustrations. Like I said, I believe that NO artist and ever create a complete and perfect replicated likeness of any creature....but true talent comes in the form of expressing a solid view of understanding and experience of observation and time spent in the field with that they are most passionate about. A very wise birder, Kenn Kaufman, recently reviewed one of my bird illustrations. Among the critiques he gave me was this...and I'll never forget it...it goes out to EVERY bird illustrator....

In one of my illustrations, he offered that I had captured the character...the likeness, the originality, of a LeConte's Sparrow, so well, that I "made him want to SEE it". I'm still shaking, not because I think I did a good job, but that I literally had convinced - through my ART - Kenn to want to SEE a LeConte's Sparrow. Because he was touched by my ART, he wanted to go out in the field and see and know and understand a LeConte's Sparrow, of all things. That means, to me, that even BIRD illustration is a powerful tool for reaching the naturalistic need of birders, naturalists, students, and all others, alike. That means, to me, that if you can KNOW something and feel something so well, so strongly, that you explain it in your artwork in a form that others know and feel the same thing in a similar way upon LOOKING at it, that you have BEGUN to understand what scientific illustration is all about.

I'll offer this....in the mere minutes that I spent inspecting your artwork, I felt like I understood your passion for birding and illustrating. Your illustrations made me want to SEE a Golden Eagle...SEE a Northern Goshawk....to see a Red-shouldered Hawk. THAT is talent. And you have it.

Continue to use your gifts to help explain the joy of birds and birding, of getting outside and observing and taking in. I am most impressed. I hope that you'll find my very humble words a mere bite of encouragement to continue on with your talents and hobbies and passions.

While at the Cape May Bird Observatory gift shop this week, I was approached by the staff with an offer to create an illustration for the 2007 New Jersey Audubon World Series of Birding event t-shirt. I hope you know of this very cool and very fun (!) event? I was (and am) honored to design an illustration for the tshirts, and I've been wildly thinking of ideas for it, ever since! However, I'd like to extend to you an invitation to take over this opportunity. As soon as I'm given the exact details on composition, species choice, and overall design, I'll send the pertinent information your way. And if and when you accept (please do!) I'll inform the CMBO staff of my stepping down to allow you to work your magic in creating a splendid piece of artwork to be shown on hundreds of World Series tshirts. In no way do I doubt that you can do this skillfully and greatly. I hope you'll consider this request! I'd be honored if you'd consider it, not even knowing, at this moment, what exactly would be required. Past years required designs are rather simple-ish, even, and I'm sure you'd create something that would blow us away! Let me know what you think about this.

Meanwhile, I hope to talk to you soon about your submitting illustrations for the ABA's young birders' magazine, "A Bird's-Eye View". AND, to give you a special heads up.....we'll be running a contest in the December/January issue....a contest for illustrators/graphic designers to come up with a new logo/newsletter header design for the publication. Not exactly sure/haven't finalized what the winner will receive, but it would be cool to see you enter a design (hint hint!).

Well, that's too much typing already.

It was very good to meet you. Thanks for showing your art. Keep at it.

Cheers
jen brumfield