Megan O’Connor 🍁
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meganoconnorart.ca
Megan O’Connor 🍁
@meganoconnorart.ca
1.5K followers 730 following 760 posts
I draw wildlife with coloured pencils using my own photos and observations as a reference (unless otherwise stated). Toronto, Canada.

https://meganoconnorart.ca
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meganoconnorart.ca
Ever since seeing this tree full of cedar waxwings (this morning, in a Toronto ravine) I’ve had Burl Ives singing “The Lollipop Tree” stuck in my head!
Ten brown and yellow birds sitting in a tree without leaves against a snowy background.
November 10, 2025 at 11:07 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
Work in progress: a red-tailed hawk in coloured pencil. I spent ages shuffling paper cut-out leaves to decide on the composition, but won’t know if it worked until the end. Right now it’s at the “might work” stage :) #birds #SciArt
A graphite pencil sketch of a large bird on a branch surrounded by leaves. An unfinished coloured pencil drawing of a large brown, white, and rust-coloured bird perched on a branch surrounded by yellow maple leaves.
November 9, 2025 at 9:53 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
I still get excited about the first snowfall of the year — only now I run outside with a camera instead of a toboggan. I found some chatty juncos this morning :)

#birds #wildlifephotography
A snowy background and a small grey and white bird perched on a snow-covered plant.
November 9, 2025 at 4:31 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
“Maybe if I pretend to be asleep she’ll go away.”

Eastern screech owl, 700 mm, close crop.

#Birds #WildlifePhotography
Small grey and brown owl sitting in a tree. The owl’s eyes are mostly shut, but not entirely.
November 7, 2025 at 3:10 AM
meganoconnorart.ca
“Before the Storm”. Coloured pencil and oil pastel on watercolour paper. While I didn’t want to pet this hyena, or get any closer, he did intrigue me, and the artist in me was captivated by the textures of fur and muzzle. #SciArt
Coloured pencil drawing of the profile of an orange and tan mammal with dark spots and a dark muzzle, stretching out his neck and pricking his ears forward.
November 1, 2025 at 5:50 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
Progress is slow, but I want to make individual hairs stand out (not all of them!) because this hyena’s energy seemed to live in his fur. #SciArt #Drawing
Unfinished colour pencil drawing of the profile of an orange and dark-spotted mammal with a dark muzzle and forward-pricking ears.
October 30, 2025 at 5:41 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
I’m trying a new (to me) combination of coloured pencil and oil pastel for this spotted hyena — because I want a heavy, stormy background. I hadn’t been planning to draw a hyena, but this one at the zoo caught at my imagination with his intense energy! #wildlifeart
Unfinished drawing of the profile of an orange and brown mammal with a closed mouth and ears pricking forward. The background is a dark, mottled grey.
October 27, 2025 at 9:08 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
Posting an old drawing (almost a year old!) because it’s International Snow Leopard Day.

I drew this based on photos I took at the Toronto Zoo of the snow leopard cubs; am hoping to see them again soon!
Coloured pencil drawing of a large white and brown-spotted mammal in the cat family. Only the face and shoulders appear from behind a wire fence.
October 23, 2025 at 5:49 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
Feeling seen.

Red-tailed Hawk. Photo taken by me today in a Toronto ravine. #Birds
Photograph of a red-tailed hawk looking toward the camera. The bird is large, brown and white, with a rust-coloured tail and yellow talons, standing on a branch in the woods.
October 22, 2025 at 5:29 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
“Written in Stone”. Coloured pencil on cotton paper. This is the third and last of my “Time Flies” series of drawings based on statues and birds I saw in Oxford, England last spring. #Birds
Coloured pencil drawing of a stone statue of a man holding an open book with a blue, black, and white bird perched on his arm.
October 20, 2025 at 7:42 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
Work in progress: “Written in Stone”, the last of my three statue drawings. #BirdArt
Unfinished coloured pencil drawing of a stone-carved man holding a stone book, with a living black, blue, and white bird perched on the man’s arm.
October 16, 2025 at 5:56 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
“The Petty King” is finished. Coloured pencil on hot pressed paper. The bird is a goldcrest, whose Latin name is regulus regulus :) #birds #birdart
Coloured pencil drawing of the stone statue of a dog with a crown-shaped collar and an uplifted paw. A small brown and yellow bird with an orange crest is perched on the paw.
October 8, 2025 at 7:11 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
“The Last Day of Summer”, coloured pencil and watercolour, based on the last hummingbird I saw of the season — a young ruby-throated — before they all migrated. #Birds #WildlifeArt
Coloured pencil drawing of a small green and white bird with its wings forward as it hovers over wild plants and grasses.
October 2, 2025 at 6:33 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
Work in progress. I decided to use watercolour for the grasses and pencils for the hummingbird and larger plants — to get the coolness of an early morning in late summer. #Birds
Unfinished coloured pencil drawing of a small green and white bird with a long bill, flying over the tops of grasses and flowers.
September 29, 2025 at 8:25 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
Somehow “the back of a napkin” sounds more romantic than “a scrap of printer paper”. Ah well. In my mind, at least, the drawing is already vivid 😏 #BirdArt
Rough pencil sketch of a bird hovering above some flowers. Really, that is what it’s meant to be!
September 26, 2025 at 8:15 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
Am at the restless but still exhausted stage of illness. I miss the ravine 😭 But, housebound, was able to finish this portrait of my dog in record time! Coloured pencil on hot pressed cotton paper. #bordercollie #dogportrait
Coloured pencil drawing of a black and white dog with amber eyes and a long pink tongue.
September 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
I’m mulling over a difficult composition so in the meantime am drawing my dog — again! (But is there really an upper limit???) #AnimalArt #BorderCollie
Unfinished coloured pencil drawing of a black and white dog with amber eyes.
September 18, 2025 at 2:08 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
I’ve begun a drawing that will be a gift, so am posting a black and white photograph instead. It is beginning to feel moody and autumnal in the ravine. (No pumpkin spice, though ….) #naturephotography
Black and white photograph of a spider‘s web hanging among plants.
September 9, 2025 at 5:31 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
“Nuthatch trio”. Coloured pencil on cotton paper. In honour of the red-breasted nuthatches who are filling our local ravine this month with their insistent little voices. #Birds #SciArt #WildlifeArt
Three small orange and blue birds perched on cones hanging from a branch.
September 8, 2025 at 6:42 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
Old dogs love old tricks 🙂 #SaturdayAfternoon
September 6, 2025 at 10:18 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
I don’t ordinarily draw more cone than bird but wanted to give a sense, with this one, of the bustling tree. I’ve seen more red-breasted nuthatches in the past month than ever before! I love their vocalizations :) #Birds #SciArt #WorkInProgress
Unfinished colour pencil drawing of three orange and blue birds perched on a conifer branch full of cones.
September 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
After stalling on this for ages, I’ve finally begun to shoot photos in RAW format in order to maximize my chances of recovering details in poor light wildlife photos. I’m using my dog to experiment though 😄 #photography
Photo of black and white dog jumping over a white pole with greenery in the background.
August 30, 2025 at 4:52 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
“Dark Blue” is finished. Coloured pencil on cotton paper. With thanks to the juvenile great blue heron who tolerated me and my camera last spring :)

#Birds #SciArt #WildlifeArt
Coloured pencil drawing of a large grey and blue bird with a long blue and yellow beak. The background is black.
August 20, 2025 at 9:00 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
This morning I spent hours photographing Red-breasted Nuthatches in a tree that is bursting with cones. When I got home, I found that my earlier drawing of a nuthatch won a special merit award in Art & Color 365’s Drawing Competition 2025. Licence to draw more nuthatches, I think 🙂 #BirdArt
Award certificate showing a badge that reads “Special Merit, Megan O’Connor, Sitta canadensis”. On the right hand side is a drawing of a red and blue bird perched on the side of a tree with bark peeling and the tracks from insects boring the wood. A small orange-breasted bird with a black and white head looks through spruce branches.
August 19, 2025 at 7:46 PM
meganoconnorart.ca
I have always wanted to try a bird against a very dark background, so here goes … (Another heron, I know. I might draw a hummingbird next!) #Birds #SciArt
Unfinished colour pencil portrait of a large grey and blue bird, with a blue and yellow beak, against a black background.
August 16, 2025 at 5:12 PM