Four Pelicans

Pelicans are surprisingly ubiquitous. You'll find them on the west coast, the east coast, in the mountains, and in the plains. And that can be any country. In fact, where there's fish, you'll likely find pelicans, Antarctica excepted.

The pelican is also the subject of the famous poem:

A wonderful bird is the pelican.

His bill can hold more than his belican.

He can hold in his beak

Enough food for a week,

But I don't know how the helican.

This poem is often attributed to Ogden Nash - and it certainly sounds like Ogden at his finest. But research indicates it was by Dixon Lanier Merritt although the actual words vary a bit and the specific original source seems elusive.

This is a pastel drawing (some pastelists prefer "pastel painting") on four ply matboard. This produces the rough surface - actually rougher than anticipated. And so you get - well, a rougher surface than anticipated.