Cawcus~Developing composition

3.)More size adjustments, more birds, more 'attitude'. I think this will be the final composition. I can individualize each bird more as I paint them.

2.)Here I've adjusted the sizes of a few birds, corrected the feet and played with attitude(posturing).

1.) I tightened the grouping so the birds relate more to one another.

I seem to be slow out of the starting gate this year artwise. Looking back over previous years I see this is a pattern for me. Maybe I tend to be more thoughtful and not as impulse and consequently less productive in midwinter. In the meantime, I've been staring at my storyboard and knew something was 'off'. I just couldn't put my finger on it so I decided to let things marinate for awhile.

I was watching the finale of The Housewives of Beverly Hills a few nights ago(inspiration can come from the darnest places) and the episode ended in a huge explosion of verbal dynamite. This particular group altercation took place at a large gathering, a birthday party actually. Long story short, it was interesting to observe how various individuals reacted to the con-flab. It gave me some added inspiration to apply to my composition. I've added more birds, grouped them more tightly and adjusted their sizes and attitudes. I decided I wasn't concerned about realistic size relationship(perspective), leaving larger birds behind smaller birds. I've also experimented, painting with a different medium...Speedball ink. DS Iridescent Electric blue watercolor paint applied over black Speedball ink makes a pretty convincing crow. Who knew?

Cawcus~Developing a Concept

I've been observing a flock of crows that have been visiting the park this winter. Actually I think they may be ravens because they are huge. I keep a tripod in the front window and take photos whenever the opportunity presents itself. The title is a play on words, the word being caucus (link). Here I've gathered various sketches of crows, some from my own photos, some from imagination and others from images online and created a storyboard of sorts. The sizes of the birds in relationship to each other and within the composition are off and the placement is still a work in progress but my ultimate goal is to create the illusion of a town hall meeting or 'crow caucus'. Because these birds seem to always be communicating with each other in some fashion, seemingly having discussions, the idea just naturally evolved.