Coming in for a Landing

I'm calling it finished.  This is a osprey coming in for a landing in the nest.  Her chicks usually hatch about 2 weeks apart, so I tried to make one chick younger than the other.   I had so many problems with this piece and I'm not exactly sure why.  I used Bristol board.  It was ok, but I think I like the Magnani  Portofino watercolor paper better.

The light is all over the place in this.  It's coming in from the  right side, but it also looks like it's comming in from the top and the left side.

Then there are the clouds.  I just couldn't get them the way I wanted them.   I put a couple of layers of 10% cool gray on them, followed by the shadow colors and pure white for highlights.  The biggest problem is that they seem kinda' flat - not puffy.

This will be going to the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.  If they like it, it will be part of a summer exhibit that will also be shown at the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.  The theme for the show was "High Tide on the Sound Side" and should be composed of wildlife and plants that are found along the sounds in North Carolina.

This is all colored pencil.  I was hoping that it would be good enough to enter into the CPSA show too, but I don't think it would be juried in.

I'm glad I'm done with this.  Definitely and exercise in perseverance and determination.

Wings to go

Making progress.  This has been one of the most frustrating pieces that I have done in a while. 

I think some of the problems have come from the paper, which is Strathmore Bristol.  Bristol is often recommended for colored pencil, but I'm not so sure that I like it.  It doesn't hold as many layers as the Tiziano I've used for other pieces.

Light source has been a problem too.  The light in this piece is coming from the left side, but it's not too evident.  And there's some amount of backlighting from the reflection of the cloud.

I'm planning on getting the body finished tomorrow.  Then comes framing.   Acceptable, but I'm certainly not happy with it.