I've just finished this 10" x 8" oil of a finch for a client. It's been sitting in the studio half-finished for a month or more while I decided what it needed. My paintings always work out better if I don't rush them. Once the piece is about 80% finished, I lean it against the wall in the studio for a couple of days. Sometimes I know within a day or two what needs to be done to finish it - other times it will take a month or more as with this piece.
This second commission is a 12" x 16" of black-billed magpies, and is at the lean-it-against-the-wall stage. When a painting is at this stage, I also photograph so it can flip it horizontally in Photoshop...the equivalent of looking at it in the mirror. If I like the flipped or mirror image - I know it is working.
This is my third attempt at this painting. I've discovered that magpies aren't easy birds to work into a composition because of the long tail and the dramatic black and white markings but I'm happy with this composition. Once the brush and birds are tweaked a little, it will be finished.
I'm hoping to do a little 75 for $75 study before the end of the day. Stay tuned!
Birds are my passion! But I can paint them only using lines and they come out very asbtract. But the style I use is often too abstract anyway))
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