I don't have time to be sick!

I'm finally feeling almost myself. Geez, that was a terrible virus. I think it was actually two different bugs fighting over who would have my head!
Here's what I've been doing when I could get up a bit of energy and enthusiasm...
My continuing fascination is not just those birds but tornadoes/cyclones/thunderstorms, the amazing clouds formations therein, and the fury and drama they create upon this planet. In a continuation of my Black Bird/Wind themes, I spent one wretched evening working on the drawing below when I was too ill to paint. Last night and tonight I worked on the painting (above) and I think it's finished though I'll have to look upon it with fresh eyes in the daylight tomorrow before I can be sure.




















A couple of weeks ago, I posted a detail of a painting in progress, promising to post the entire painting. Here it is - still in progress, but much further along. The sky and background are nearly finished as is the water. I'm going for a swampy Everglades sort of waterway; the kind that are navigated by those fan or wind-propelled boats. I've still much refining to do on the three white birds, the crowned crane and the foreground foliage. My camera has exaggerated the colors, the actual background being more subdued.




















I've not been the sort who plans out paintings; often not doing any studies beforehand; preferring to draw images or shapes directly onto the surface with paint. But for this painting, I actually did a small mock-up as the composition is deceptively simple and yet not at all classical. I knew I was going to paint it rather large
(it's 30x 35) and I wanted to be certain to get the proportions right - right being what was half-formed in my head before I started.
I'm working to capture a mood and to tell a little tale. Don't we all of us look askance upon an interloper - a stranger garbed in finery greater than our own?

I hope to finish this one tomorrow during my "make up day" volunteering at the gallery. Being sick for two weeks really put me behind.


And just for fun, look what sprang out at me from the thrift store: A bobble crow! Nothing sinister about this fellow. He's made of painted stuffed cloth, an old bedspring, and a block of wood painted with the pithy saying: A wise crow reaps what you sow... and images of corn and watermelon. I didn't know crows had a fondness for watermelon?

I had to have him. Pensive fellow, isn't he?