Listen

Listen to your whisper......

There was something I wanted to tell you about

painting hair and bird watching.

Have you heard the expression,

"her hair looks like a bird's nest?"

The other day as I was watching Lady Cardinal's

magnificent nest building progress,

that expression came to mind.

It was during the painting of the first of this series

of Castle Towers.

And I was painting hair.

I thought about how Lady Cardinal first laid down a blanket of dried leaves. And how I had laid down a solid blanket of color as the first step. And then she added a layer of dried course plant stems of various varieties. I laid down some course strokes of other colors in the highlight area of her hair.

The next time I visited the nest, just before the first egg, and when the nest building was finished, there was a layer of very fine dried material. I was amazed to discover there is some blueprint somewhere that she was following. The layers were deliberate.

Then I added very fine strokes of the lightest and darkest colors where the hair was closest to me. (not all over) Then I knew I was finished.

And that is how I paint hair.

Like a bird's nest.

******

Listen to your whisper is another 8 x 10 on canvas board and I will be listing it soon as I can. Now, I have work to do.

Expect,

Sharon

ps...I think if you click on the picture you can better see the hair painting.