Very productive day!

    It was too hot outside to do anything, so I stayed in the back room for most of the day, working on the osprey carving.  The first thing I did was to make the support for the bird, this time out of a very strong and stiff 3/16" diameter steel rod from Home Depot.  I bent one end so that the diving bird would be displayed as a steeper diving angle, and then cut off the approximately 10" support from the rest of the three-foot long rod.  The rod fit well, I liked the angle of the dive, so I was ready to mount the carving.  I drilled a 3/16" diameter hole in the base to accept the support rod,, held my breath, and mounted the carving on the base.  I am very happy with the result.

    Next, I put a few more washes of dark sable over the leading edges of the wings, and did a full wash of sable over the whole upper side of the wings and body.  I wasn't getting the dark brown I saw in the workbook and in most of the photos I have, so I used the overall sable wash to darken up the topside of the bird.

    Next, I tackled the head.  I used several washes of nutmeg to cover the dark stripe of feathers that extends from the eye back to the "cape", the upper part of the back.  Once I was happy with the size and shape of this patch done with nutmeg (which I could paint over easily if I was dissatisfied), I added some washes of dark sable.  The head ended up a little darker than the back and topside of the wings, so I had to do a little blending in the "shoulder" area to smooth out the color transition.  The crest feathers were left white, and will be highlighted at some point with a touch of nutmeg.

    After some lunch, I chose to try to finish painting the topside before moving to the more difficult underside.  The first thing I did was add a touch of the warm white/raw umber mixture to the trailing edges of the primaries, secondaries, and their coverts.  This really defined the feather edges and restored the viewer's ability to see the feather groups on the wing.  I used the same color mix, as suggested in the workbook, to paint the shafts of the primary and secondary feathers, which I had outlined in the wood burning/texturing phase of the project.  The shafts are lighter than the surrounding feather barbs and are quite prominent, maybe a little more so than I wish, but that's how they look in the workbook and in my reference photos.  I can mute the color later if necessary.

    So, what does the carving look like after today's efforts?  See for yourself in the photos below, taken outside in natural light on the picnic table.  I opened the big umbrella to block the direct sun and eliminate harsh shadows.  The first photo shows the topside of the wings with the darkened background, highlighted feather edges, and painted feather shafts.  The wing looks a little darker in the photo than it really is, not sure why. The photo also shows the fairly steep angle of attack, which I think adds a little more drama to the piece.

    The second photo shows the unfinished underside, which will still be mostly white when the painting is done but will have more barred feathers, the primary and secondary coverts, in the white area next to the dark barred primaries and secondaries.  There will also be a characteristic dark patch in the wrist area, which is present only in ospreys and helps greatly in identifying ospreys from a distance when seen from below.

    All in all, a very productive six hours of work today.  This final phase of the project, painting, is not taking as much time as I thought it would.  I am not rushing, by any means, but I am realizing how much the advance work I did in carving and texturing the feathers, head, and body is paying off as I paint the various feather groups.

    One hundred and thirty hours, and counting!

    Oh yes, one more thing.  As I look at the bird now, diving toward a somewhat abstract water surface on the base, I can't help but think that the composition needs to show a target or some sort.  I don't want anything too tacky and artificial, like a fin sticking up out of the water, but the base needs something.  What came to mind today is a subtle, fish-shaped patch of darker color on the base, suggesting what a fish might look like swimming close to the surface.  This would take some painting skill to pull off, but if I can do it, the question in the viewer's mind - "What's the osprey going after?" - will be subtly answered.  More on this later.