Hapo's Art Blog

Hi, I'm Hapo (she/they), Thanks for stopping by. Most of my art at the moment is geographical personification OCs or urban sketching with a dash of fan art here and there. I have an academic background in Classics so that comes up a bit too. You might also be here because I draw Star Wars and Star Trek on occasion!

If you like what you see, check out my about for more on commissions, merch, etc. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to know more about my process or have a suggestion for something I could try!

I kindly ask that if you want to just chat about blorbos and headcanons that you visit my main blog below, otherwise I tend to interpret asks as requests (stress!)

A Few of My Other Blogs

Main: @allbeendonebefore Reblogs: @hyperboreanhapocanthosaurus  Alberta OCs: @battle-of-alberta Ancient OCs: @athensandspartaadventures

Active Art Challenge: [ None ] 

Life List #18: Merlin

aaaand appropriately we are "ending" (or at least pausing) this challenge to document all my Merlin app sightings this year so far with the titular merlin! (plus a bonus snack she was carrying... possibly a blue jay)

I'm still amazed that I got a photo of this moment clear enough to use for reference!

Some facts from Birds of Alberta

snatches small birds out of midair - mostly bohemian waxwings in winter and house sparrows in summer

at the time this book was published (i have the original 1998 edition), Edmonton had the most nesting pairs (approximately 60) of any other city. I didn't know this at the time of this sighting, but I'd say that still holds true nearly 3 decades later!

The scientific name "columbarius" is from the Latin for pigeon because merlins have a similar deep v shape of their wings while in flight

Life List Sketch #18: Merlin

and there you have it! We've just about reached more or less the end of this little challenge until i go outside more and either see more birds or learn to figure out what my local gulls are.

I do have one great photo of a merlin I'd like to do a finished piece of, so I'm hoping to get that today. Then I'll have to find some other thing to warm up with before work each morning.

Life List #17: Spotted Sandpiper

We're nearing the end of my list for this challenge. One more and I'll be taking a little break to go spot some more birds :)

Some facts on this guy from Birds of Alberta:

The most commonly spotted sandpiper throughout the province

have a distinct teetering motion thought to help them camouflage against moving water

discovered to be polyandrous (females having multiple male mates) in 1972, a trait that had been observed in only about 1% of all bird species!

Life List Sketch #17: Spotted Sandpiper

alrighty, previously my list had been organized by genus/species, but I've seen a couple more birds since I started this challenge so we're going back to water and shore birds for a moment.

I saw one of these guys when I took a spontaneous bike down to the river valley. I was painting a landscape when i saw a weird teeter-tottering motion out of the corner of my eye, and there it was! :)

Life List #16: Red-winged Blackbird

All I have to say about this guy I saw in the marsh is: stance

some facts from Birds of Alberta:

Their red shoulders and raspy calls are the male's way of asserting their territory (and in experiments, those with their red shoulders painted black lost territory!)

Red-winged blackbirds are polygynous, meaning one male may have several female mates

The females weave nests out of cattails

Life List #15: House Sparrow

Saw this little guy on my way to the train station. I didn't realize they were European until I failed to find them in the sparrows section of Birds of Alberta. They're part of a separate "Old-World Sparrows" section.

Some more facts:

They were introduced to North America in the 1850s to control insects

...despite the fact that they're mostly vegetarian and prefer eating grains

They first entered Alberta around 1898

Life List Sketches #16: Red-winged Blackbird

This is technically the last bird on my life list so far this year, only I saw at least two more last weekend and still have a few finished pieces to catch up on, so I'll be back at it soon enough!

the ones near where I live are much more chill than the ones that nested on U of T campus when I was there - they were notorious for dive bombing students!

Life List Sketch #15: House Sparrow

i was worried this guy wasn't even in my book, not realizing there was a separate section for old world sparrows!

Life List #14: Chipping Sparrow

based on a little photo i took of a sparrow squinting in the sun on some barbed wire in a parking lot last weekend. so cute!

I know I'm missing some finished pieces for a couple of birds and I will get back to them, I just need some better references to work off of which I want to go out and collect when I'm able

Some facts from Birds of Alberta:

The book comments how while they don't visit the same tailor that chipping sparrows and dark eyed juncos have the same voice trainer: their songs are almost identical (with the chipping sparrow's being slightly faster)

They commonly nest at eye level, convenient for birdwatching

They seem to have a preference for using hair (human or animal) in their nests

Life List Sketch #14: Chipping Sparrow

I see a lot of sparrows but I only have a couple I got close enough to identify properly (still learning!) While I haven't been keeping up on the finished pieces due to a lack of my own photo references, these guys I definitely saw last week and got on camera so I'll get back to it.