Spotted Pardalote

by Erica Lyn Schmidt

This charcoal drawing was made with both pencils and powdered charcoal, using erasers to draw in the lighter details. I chose to render this colorful bird in black and white to spotlight the contrast in its pattern and the negative space around him.

This piece was created for a BirdWhisperer Project monthly challenge.

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Erica Lyn Schmidt

Erica Lyn Schmidt is a fine artist living in Wisconsin, USA. Her primary media includes polymer clay, acrylic, and oils. After spending many years in scientific and children’s illustration, she found her true love of fine art in the genre of imaginative realism.

Blurring the lines between traditional painting and sculpture, her work explores the deeper meaning of life’s experiences through whimsical animals, metaphor, and prose. She loves creating characters that didn’t exist before, like conjuring new friends out of thin air. Sometimes a project takes on a life of its own—in these moments it feels like there’s magic in the room.

Erica has been a staple on the roster of Every Day Original, in several volumes of Infected by Art, and on the Chesley Suggestion List twice in the category of Three Dimensional Art. Beyond her own work, she strives to empower other artists as Community Manager of the artist coaching program Unleash Creativity with Marc Scheff. Her past clients include Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 78 Tarot, Royal Tyrrell Museum, Burpee Museum of Natural History, private scientists and collectors.