I rendered a bunch of Indigo Buntings in a previous painting but had never done a painting with one as the main subject. Last spring I captured many serviceable, close photos of a cooperative male that came to our yard in the spring. Unfortunately, he had less than perfect, spotty, molting-in plumage that hinted at how spectacular he would look in a few weeks, when all his new feathers came in. I liked the poses I got, so I used those photos and patched up the spots that weren’t yet a beautiful blue. It was a little like restoring a vintage car with some Bondo and a respray.
I was a little at a loss of what to do with the background. I was between some busy work projects and just wanted to get something on the drafting table that I could work on if I had a spare half hour here or there. Lately I’ve been trying to get a little looser and washy in the backgrounds, so in the end I decided to go with a light, misty pink to grey-blue fade in the background to contrast well with the brilliant blues of the bunting.
I’m way behind on posting paintings and sketches. I have six more finished paintings that I want to share as well as a bunch of sketches. It was very busy for a while, but I hope to be better about posting now that things have slowed down a bit!
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