This afternoon I spent about two hours adding the patch of dark feathers on the underside of the wings, in the vicinity of the wrist. The images of diving ospreys I have collected reveal that the coloration and pattern in this area are very inconsistent from bird to bird. The photo below of a random osprey shows these patches at the wrist and extending along the leading edge of the wings.
Granted, I don't remember if the birds in my photos are male, female, or juveniles - all of which make a difference in plumage patterns - so I took a mental average of the extent of the dark patches in this area and painted them with several washes of a nutmeg/sable mix. Once these washes were dry, I thought it was a little too brown, so I added a final wash of straight sable that darkened the area almost to a shade that matched the upper side of the wings.
I lightened the edges of the primary and secondary feathers under the wings with the 90% warm white/10% raw umber mix, but forced myself to stop before I got carried away. I don't want to overdue the painting detail, so I will wait until the bird is dry before deciding to do any more of this stuff.
The base needed a little something more, so I darkened the edges. I had planned to use black, but in order to unify the base with the carving I decided to use sable to cover the edges. The dark sable color picks up the upper surfaces of the wings, which are mostly sable in color with some of the nutmeg brown showing through.
I will let the carving sit for a while before I do any more. We have grandchildren tomorrow, so I wouldn't be able to work on it until Thursday anyway.
I am very happy with the carving, not as happy with the base. If I have the time before the October Spirit of Wood Show, I will make a new base using wood that is less grainy and easier to carve. The ripples and fish shape could be done better in wood that is a little easier to carve.
I will take some "formal" photos one of these days, and will post them here. 137 hours!
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