It's Been a While ... Chickadee - Work in Progress

I think you may have seen this drawing earlier.

I wanted to something different with the background,  something suggestive of brambles. I used daVinci's indanthrone[which is a not transparent] and some raw umber, splooshed them on wet paper, and then dropped on some plastic wrap, and let it set. It gave a nice random texture to the heavy pigments.

Started to work on the bird's local color. Those are my handy color reference photos beside the painting.

I lifted here and there in the background, trying to follow the pattern set by the plastic wrap.

More thin glazes ... I used my favorite triad - quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone in various combinations to get the browns and blacks.

A bit more glazed shadowing, and I am here now. I think he's done, but I'll let him perch for a few days to see how I feel about the painting as a whole.

Meanwhile, it's been a bit chilly here - frozen ground, heavy frost, and Bruno snuggled in two blankets at night.

Another scene from our walk. We are out every morning. My dog, Maggie, dances at the front door waiting to go, and her friend [my landlady's dog] barks from her spot inside her house where she can keep an eye on me. I don't dare ignore them!!!

There have been a lot of coyotes this winter - very large, healthy-looking specimens. I don't believe they'd go after  a fair-sized dog alone, but if they are in a pack, definitely. The one above was trotting down a main road out here at 8 AM. Then he stopped and watched the three of us disappear into the park. I am keeping a close eye on the girls when they are off leash.

Thank you very much for dropping by!