Wild Life Drawing Online: Stork Special

Birds in the stork family are all supersized; long legs and necks, big beaks and even bigger wingspans. These omnivorous scavengers are wading birds with impressive migration routes and cult status in art history. We will be following in the footsteps of the many artists that have committed them to paper with a truly unique live class featuring three beautiful birds – Biggie the White Stork and Simon and Sahara, two young Marabou Storks. 

During this live stream we'll be joining our favourite falconry duo, siblings Daisy and Jake from Gauntlet Birds of Prey. These two have grown up with birds as their family, and the relationships they share with their winged friends is something really quite special. Daisy will be telling us the story of how she became a mama in lockdown to five storklings (yes that is the actual name for a baby stork) when they were rejected by their mum. It is extremely rare for storks hatched in captivity to survive and Daisy was able to share her important findings to help conserve wild populations of white storks.

And a moment please for our curious marabou storks. We can't wait to see their giant wingspans and unusual hairstyles and to find out why they are nicknamed the ‘Undertaker Bird’. It’ll be flapping fantastic!

Artist and illustrator Jennie Webber will lead the session, beginning with her top tips on how to draw moving models with a focus on stork anatomy. She will be drawing and demonstrating throughout the class and will be all ears for any creative queries that you have. Likewise, the Gauntlet team will be happy to answer any questions that you have about the birds. The class is open to all abilities, so whether your sketching skills are still hatching or you're a fully fledged artist, you’ll get loads out of the session.

We will be sending you an email around 48 hours before the session which will contain a Zoom link, some helpful reference images and all the information you need. After the class we will send out a recording of the session to all ticket holders, so you can catch up or rewatch as many times as you like.

50% of profits will be donated to Gauntlet Conservation Trust.