excited is not the word! Heart-pounding, adrenalin-fuelled panic and awe is closer to the mark - once the birds had left, I was grinning from ear to ear uttering expletives to myself. I can't believe just how discrete these birds normally are - there are no previous records for this wood, despite it being next to a top-spot (which in Franche-comté terms means on average about one visit per week by someone). The one I had at Osselle flew from a stand of trees that I had just walked past as soon as I played its song. Interesting that the green woodie that was already in a tree next to where I was ignored the grey-head's song completely - whereas we sometimes struggle to tell them apart by song.
So in the context of such excitement, painting the sods is agony, they HAVE to be one of my best pictures because they deserve it, and such pressure often leads to stupid overworking - add to that the fact that you have the photos so can compare the picture, and that they were in really tricky positions to compose (facing apart and quite distant). I've gone for a 'blocky acrylic' with wax - as I was watching the birds, I was thinking 'angles and contrast' so that's what I've tried. Now that the first one is done, the stress has been reduced and I can perhaps paint another few pictures from this work a little more relaxed (I want to do one with them alert - I LOVE those shapes they make!)
On the other hand, I've been practicing my printing - please HELP! I'm rather crap at the technical side of it! The caper was too wet, the stork is just a mess, and the cuckoo was painted with the inks rather than being printed!
The gadwall saw a return to watercolour to get it done!
