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I am getting so close to wrap up, I can taste it! Above is near completion of the breast feathers. Below is finish of the belly feathers and meeting of the tail feathers. You can also see where I filled in the inside of the fore wing. Today I am going to finish up the long awaited tail feathers and hope to plug the baby mantis in his beak by the end of the weekend! Wheeewww!
The breast feathers have finally begun to take shape and will upload more pics tomorrow. These were taken two days ago..and I've put in 20 hours since then. You can see how rediculous these tiny bird feathers are and to give you an idea, the white and grey feather area measures about 8" x 12" on my canvas and took 2 solid 12 hour days to paint. 
Here is a pic taken further back and you can see where I have blacked in the feather shapes on the underside of the wing and the rest of the breast feathers are to come!
The back feathers have begun and boy is he popping bright now. The way these iridescent back feathers overlap is real crazy to sort out which is what and what is where. I got all of them laid in yesterday with only shadows and highlights left on each one, I would guess there are near 200 feathers tips on his backside. 
Above is a detail of the way they look so far, with the base carve out of feathers I left in the bottom right corner. I love the color palette on this particular part of the bird, very fun to mix and paint.
Hi all, I just put in a 14 hour day on the painting and I got most of the iridescent throat feathers done along with a patch between the shoulder blades on the move. I had to take a photo of him from a right angle as I do have bad glare due to the lights I am working under on this big painting, so he does seem a bit ascue. I do have to say, standing in front of the painting, is a bit crazy because the colors are so intense it messes with your vision, and the iridescent throat feathers make me go hummm??!! WOW 
I thought I would throw in a close up of the throat feathers, although it is no where's near the same in person...They really do look iridescent with regular ol' oil paint..and made my eyes go nuts while painting...quite dizzy in fact, and don't know how much of this maddness I can handle again in the future. But I am quite pleased with the outcome. 1 more week to go and counting....Stay tuned for updates!
These feathers are taking forever...I finished the top and back of the head except a few minor spots of toning and highlighting. The throat is half done from top portion. I was delayed today in getting any painting done, in which I had hoped to put in a long day and get the rest of the ruby throat finished, but unfortunately, James has been sick with a cold and this morning I woke up with the nasty myself. I have a one week deadline on this painting now, and with seven days left and many more feathers to go, I see that cold or not, I will be painting around the clock to make it happen. I feel like I'm running in the Tour De France with this one.
I've finally gotten started with the irridescent colored feathers as you can see on the top of his head...It is taking hours to get an area no bigger than 3" x 3" done in one painting session. The colors and complications of feather design is crazy, but this is what I call the fun stuff...and for those watching me it's like watching moss grow on a rock (as an artist friend of mine put it) 
The results are coming along nicely though....and I will update with somemore pics over the weekend, check in again!
I am getting so close to wrap up, I can taste it! Above is near completion of the breast feathers. Below is finish of the belly feathers and meeting of the tail feathers. You can also see where I filled in the inside of the fore wing. Today I am going to finish up the long awaited tail feathers and hope to plug the baby mantis in his beak by the end of the weekend! Wheeewww!
The breast feathers have finally begun to take shape and will upload more pics tomorrow. These were taken two days ago..and I've put in 20 hours since then. You can see how rediculous these tiny bird feathers are and to give you an idea, the white and grey feather area measures about 8" x 12" on my canvas and took 2 solid 12 hour days to paint. 
Here is a pic taken further back and you can see where I have blacked in the feather shapes on the underside of the wing and the rest of the breast feathers are to come!
The back feathers have begun and boy is he popping bright now. The way these iridescent back feathers overlap is real crazy to sort out which is what and what is where. I got all of them laid in yesterday with only shadows and highlights left on each one, I would guess there are near 200 feathers tips on his backside. 
Above is a detail of the way they look so far, with the base carve out of feathers I left in the bottom right corner. I love the color palette on this particular part of the bird, very fun to mix and paint.
Hi all, I just put in a 14 hour day on the painting and I got most of the iridescent throat feathers done along with a patch between the shoulder blades on the move. I had to take a photo of him from a right angle as I do have bad glare due to the lights I am working under on this big painting, so he does seem a bit ascue. I do have to say, standing in front of the painting, is a bit crazy because the colors are so intense it messes with your vision, and the iridescent throat feathers make me go hummm??!! WOW 
I thought I would throw in a close up of the throat feathers, although it is no where's near the same in person...They really do look iridescent with regular ol' oil paint..and made my eyes go nuts while painting...quite dizzy in fact, and don't know how much of this maddness I can handle again in the future. But I am quite pleased with the outcome. 1 more week to go and counting....Stay tuned for updates!
These feathers are taking forever...I finished the top and back of the head except a few minor spots of toning and highlighting. The throat is half done from top portion. I was delayed today in getting any painting done, in which I had hoped to put in a long day and get the rest of the ruby throat finished, but unfortunately, James has been sick with a cold and this morning I woke up with the nasty myself. I have a one week deadline on this painting now, and with seven days left and many more feathers to go, I see that cold or not, I will be painting around the clock to make it happen. I feel like I'm running in the Tour De France with this one.
I've finally gotten started with the irridescent colored feathers as you can see on the top of his head...It is taking hours to get an area no bigger than 3" x 3" done in one painting session. The colors and complications of feather design is crazy, but this is what I call the fun stuff...and for those watching me it's like watching moss grow on a rock (as an artist friend of mine put it) 
The results are coming along nicely though....and I will update with somemore pics over the weekend, check in again!
