A good start to this stunning kingfisher for the next exhibition

Good morning and hope you all are well? I thought you may like to see my current artwork while in progress. We have been away for a few weeks hence the lack of new work recently but back into now! What do you think?

I am always looking for a reference photo that is striking and detailed and this one by Ian Marshall caught my eye. I have asked the photographer for permission to use this image. The colours under the wings, as you can see above, really stood out for me....

Once I have chosen the initial colours to express the vibrancy of the feathers then I start adding the layers using sharpened pastel pencils - here I am sharpening with a blade which will then be followed by sandpaper fine sharpening.

Anyway hope you like where I am so far and have a great day! This work will be for sale at my next exhibition in June. Catch up with more soon...