new raven canvas in progress!

today I was motivated to start a canvas, and knew the raven wanted to speak again.  I found a reference photo on unsplash.com, cropped it a bit, and got to work creating a busy background for it.

it has gold twirly bits as well as lots of colored pencil scribbles

 to add to the texture of the piece

I then did a quick sketch, hoping I'd be able to fix anything with paint later on

I then toned down the background a bit with some gesso and red iron oxide

then I got to adding some black and adding initial color to the eye

as soon as it started feeling like work I stopped.  I want this loose and easy, not tedious for me.  these days when I get motivation and energy at the same time I need to encourage it as best as I can, and not punish myself by thinking things must be photo-perfect.  if I wanted that, I'd find a raven and take a photo, not create a colorful journey into the heart to find the messages that lie within.

after more scribbling and eye-work.

oh, do I love working on eyes!

updated with the finished painting!

"winter raven"

until later,
Jenny