Thank You, Prabal ...

I thought I had finished at this point ...

then I went over the foreground cobalt blue with a w/w glaze of ultramarine

added a bit of ultramarine to the bee' shadow

Then I received an email from Prabal Mallick, at http://michael-learns-to-paint.blogspot.ca   He asked a "what if" question - my favorite type of question! What if you darken the background behind the bee? So I did - a graduated and a flat wash of quin. burnt orange below, and another of cobalt blue above. I really think it makes the painting a much better composition. Thank you, Prabal!

As always, your comments are most welcome.

Another One I HAD to Get Out of My System

I started with the warm reflected light around the base of the window ...

I very lightly painted the shadows w/w ...

Worked on the wings and legs ...

Some yellow {aureolin + quin. gold} on the body ...

Started some of the detail - mind you, with something this small {about 5.5 x 7.5 inches}, it's almost all detail.

This is as far as I got today. It may need a bit more oomph!

This was the reference photo. The soft contrast of the cool and warm shadows, and the reflected light and images are what attracted me.

As always, your comments are ever welcome.