Snowy Egret Work in Progress

No, your eyes are fine...this egret really is soft and blurry looking. But I am not finished! This is only my first layer of hard pastels. My paintings seem to go through this 'blurry' stage. I like to start out by first blocking in the dark areas and the lightest areas. I like to make this first layer colorful. I've put some purple, pinks, blues and yellows in the bird. I don't use any white even though it is a white bird. Next I will go back with my soft pastels and refine the bird. I will probably leave the water very close to how it is now....just a suggestion of the surf. This painting is 9x12 on green art spectrum paper. It is from my own photo from my photography days. I wanted to paint larger but I am running out of paper! Stay tuned for the next installment.