Page 43 - May/June 2022 Outdoor Oklahoma

Artist Debby Kaspari may have grown up in northern
California, but her early years were linked to Oklahoma
through a childhood hero, George M. Sutton. Sutton, a
legend in the bird world for both his research and artwork, “When you draw, you need to take in all the
spent his final three decades in Oklahoma studying our little details . The scope helps me see so many
bird life. Kaspari’s eventual move to Norman, the city
Sutton had called home, was purely coincidence when she elements that I may miss with the naked eye .”
met and married future University of Oklahoma biology
professor Mike Kaspari. But her current home serves as yet
another connection to her early hero. JENA DONNELL/ODWC
As in Sutton’s artwork, birds are the primary subject
of Kaspari’s sketches. And while she’s traveled exten-
sively for her work, Kaspari also finds artistic inspiration
in the native plants and animals found in and around her
Norman neighborhood.
“I was able to start a new project (recently), drawing vis-
iting Mississippi kites, without leaving my yard,” Kaspari
said. “The kites would preen and hunt for frogs and insects
from a nearby tree that had multiple bare branches. I prob-
ably have more than 150 sketches of those birds. I was just
drawing for hours.”
To better view and capture the birds’ gestures and
Debby Kaspari sketches visiting Mississippi kites from life in her
poses, Kaspari set up a scope in her front yard. Norman front yard.

Mississippi kite drawing, made through a scope, left, and finished “Kite in the Wind” oil on canvas, based on life-sketches.

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