This is the first oil painting in the series Drawn To Love. Up to point, I have only been doing portraits in pencil on paper. But, the photograph I studied had such intense lighting that I felt paint would better tell the story rather than pencil. (photo credit: Daniel Smädný Mních Jurčo). Below is the progression of this portrait. At the end of each day, I took a photo of the development thus far. Some days saw 4-5 hours worth of work. Other days saw as little as 30 minutes.

If you keep head butting a wall, eventually you will break through; of course after enduring mild concussion, taking plenty of aspirin, and supplying lots of determination. I may have reached that point with these most recent works to my Montage Photography Art. I loved my 2007 Skins piece, and have tried to recreate it, limiting myself to photographs of birds. I loved the vibrant colors and contrasting textures in Skins, and I have tried to recreate those aspects in Birds Of