2018-12-20 Not for Wrent

After finishing Edd French’s commission, Don, my boss, sent me another bird picture via facebook. I liked the rustic textures and the imagined interaction between the two Birds.
It’s a Bluebird house, and it appears as if the Wren is contemplating moving in..
This was the Photo:

I started by putting some color on a 12 X 18 pre-stretched canvas.

Blotted, wiped, and smeared that around a bit until I came up with something I liked..

Sketched in the Birdhouse:

Started refining shapes and values:

And adding details to the weathered wood:

Placing the bird shapes in white so the colors would remain bright:

And getting colors underpainted..

Adding some color to the Birds:

And the finishing touches: