Project - Bird of Prey

I've painted a dog before, as a commission, but never a bird. If you've read my first couple of posts you'll know that I really got started after joining the artists' group by sketching in charcoal. Well, it's been quite a while since I made a pencil sketch just for the fun of it - sketches I've done in the last few months with one or two exceptions have been the basis of projected paintings. Sitting down a few evenings ago, I had a hankering to make a good. old fashioned pencil sketch again, so I took up my pad and my pencil, while I kept one eye on the telly, and this is what I came up with.

I enjoyed it so much that I started thinking about trying to paint a bird. So I took a small canvas - about 12in x 9in, and sketched out this bird of prey : -

Bird of prey - original sketch

The problem with a box canvas is that I find it difficult to get a good scan of the sketch. On my previous painting, the Heinkel Trojan Bubble Car, there was a lot of fiddly and intricate work to do. I made a conscious decision to take a bit of more impressionistic approach with this painting, at least with the background. The idea was the the more pale, almost watercolour, aspect of the background would contrast with the brighter, more vibrant and clearly defined hawk.

Hawk

Once again, the scan makes this look a little more yellow than it actually is.