Work in progress - Pine Grosbeak

I love "works in progress". There is something very satisfying about watching a dull lifeless form turn into something right before your eyes. It seems like just a jumble of colour and then all of a sudden you start to see where the painting is taking you. It doesn't matter if it's mine or someone else's I just love looking at them. This is going to be very small. 2.5" x 3" I am framing this one, so it may end up 2" x 3". (That is framing it if it turns out ok)

The above photo is the "start". I always always do the entire background before I paint anything else. It's the only way I can do it. In fact I had a terrible time with the round robins becaue of course all the foreground was done first. To me that's all backwards.

These are mountain ash berries. I took the rough sketch and started painting in the berries. Personally I don't think many birds like mountain ash except the waxwings, but they (the berries) are pretty much the only ones that hang around in "clumps" all winter in Saskatchewan.

Now that I have the background under control I have to sketch in the bird and then start painting it in. I have only seen a grosbeak once, although they are native to here, so I had to go searching to see just exactly how it looked. It's a very pretty bird. A Choctaw friend of mine (Char) says that to see a red bird in the winter will bring you good fortune.

Please check back to see the progress.