The great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), called «storskarv» in Norwegian, is a coastal bound diving seabird found almost all over the world. The genus name means “bald raven” and carbo is Latin for “charcoal”. The cormorant can vary greatly in size from 1.5 kg to 5.3 kg, but it is not the size or the blackness of the bird that keeps catching my eye. It is its habit of sitting in the sun or the wind to dry off its wings after the last dive for fish.
The inspiration for this particular drawing was the great cormorants that I kept seeing on my way to work. At the time, I had a 40 minute drive to work that took me over a bridge crossing salt water. Almost daily I got a glimpse of at least one of these beauties. It always had the affect of brightening my day.
I love watching this bird, sitting with its wings spread out after a dive in the ocean. Drying off in the sunshine, it looks so calm and collected. Like it is meditating – even if it is sitting just meters away from heavy morning rush hour traffic.
Size of drawing: 21 x 29 cm (8 x 11 inches). Materials: Pigment ink pen and colour pencils on acid free paper. The image shows a high resolution scanned copy, true to original colours.