Man, have I got a story to tell. All the way back in April, I went to a birding festival to meet my

Man, have I got a story to tell. All the way back in April, I went to a birding festival to meet my birding idol, Noah Strycker (he broke the world record with his worldwide Big Year in 2015. noahstrycker.com/ ).  He was the keynote speaker at the festival, and I got to spend a whole day with him on a birding tour that he led.  It was awesome!  He helped me see plenty of lifers, including the illustrious Mountain Bluebird.  He’s an author (I’m a huge fan of his book “The Thing with Feathers”), and I had this whole plan to tell him that I would love to illustrate one of his books someday.  But then I found out that he actually illustrates his own books!  Oops.  Awkward.  He actually minored in art in college and is an incredible artist.  That explains why there was no illustrator mentioned in his books.  So that plan was brought to a screeching halt.After the festival, I sent him an email to say thanks for the incredible tour … and I very hesitantly decided that maybe I could still make my little illustrator advertisement.Noah Strycker is always traveling to some unexplored wild realm to study birds.  As such, he emailed me back from a ship called the Ocean Nova in the high Arctic (which apparently has wifi).  He said he loved my artwork  (quick pause for celebration) and that he’d send it to the editor of a magazine he writes for, called Birding.  It’s a national publication put out by the American Birding Association.  aba.org/Wow!  Just five minutes later, the editor at Birding magazine emailed me back, explaining that he would add me to their list of illustrators.  He warned me that they do not need illustrations very often because they mostly use photos, but that if a need ever arose, I might be contacted.By this point, I was giddy with excitement.  But then the REALLY crazy thing happened.Five minutes after THAT, I got another email from the editor.  He had an emergency; he needed some illustrations of a European Starling.  It was for an article written by a teenager, so he thought it would be cool to have another teen illustrate the article.The only problem?  He needed them by Sunday.  This was Wednesday night.  And I was leaving for Belize at 6:00 AM Saturday morning.  So I had two days.I hadn’t actually finished packing for my trip yet, but my mom offered to pack for me so I could take this commission.  So, I painted all day Thursday.  Then I painted all day Friday.  And incredibly, I finished two Starling paintings in two days.Was it stressful?  Yes.  Was it exciting and wonderful?  YES!  It was tough, but worth it in every way.I’m so thankful for this amazing opportunity! To be continued … . -- source link

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