A girl and her pencils.... The Secretary Bird part 6

I can't believe I am saying that... Part 6! I KNEW this was an eight day project when I began, so I shouldn't really be surprised, but I am! Welcome to the weekend! It's Friday! I should hopefully be finishing this bird today. I hope I am not boring you all to death with my slow progress, but that is also one of the things that I really would like to get across, it is a sloooow medium. When I show you a day's work, it really is just that, a full day of work, not a couple of hours in the evening. When I say it requires patience, I mean it. And there is really not much that you can do to speed up the process unless you want to go down the mixed media route - airbrushing, under painting, gel pens, Copic markers etc. But the slowness is something that I have also learned to love. I have never been a very patient person and I am certainly learning patience. And while I know some people get tempted to rush parts when it is so slow, I find it has a reverse effect on me. I know a piece is going to take many days and if I have already put in several days work I would not want to ruin all that effort and have wasted all that time by trying to take some silly short cut. Knowing the investment in time pushes me to try and do my absolute best over every square inch of paper. And that in turn results in improvement in my work. I want to look at each piece and be able to say that it is better than my last. Comparing ourselves with others is futile, but we can compare ourselves as we are now, with what we were, and that is a great motivator, wherever we are on our artistic journey.

The latest shot above shows how work has begun properly on the feathers of the body. These feathers are beautiful, all different and moving in various ways and I am trying really hard to capture that. The background is still being darkened and there are now five different shades of green in it. I am still working on the beak and areas around the eye. There are so many different textures to the feathers on this bird, some look almost spiky, others, particularly the ones I have not even begun yet on the body are very soft and downy looking, so lots to try and get right!
I am off to exercise before I begin another day of work - it is too much pleasure to be called work really. Have the best of Friday's and a fantastic weekend.

PS. To follow my blog simply click on the orange RSS feed reader symbol on the side bar. Each new blog should be sent to you automatically. Or if you prefer contact me directly and I can add you to my mailing list.

Shop for prints here