I have finally finished this monster. To give you perspective, the canvas size is 4 feet by 5 feet! The work has been 18 months in the making. I started it in the summer of 2007. The medium used is acrylic. I managed to get the sky done and clearcoated that summer. I used a regular hardware store paint roller to apply the paint and the clearcoat. I had to transport the canvas several times while working on it, and it taxed my Yukon XL to the max. In frustration, I covered it with a bedsheet and leaned it against the basement wall. There it sat for a year. This summer I began work on the hawk. I did the original drawing of the hawk on a sheet of wrapping paper, and transfered it to the canvas by means of a chalk transfer sheet. I masked the blue sky to avoid getting hawk coloured spots on it. Painting the hawk was fairly straightforward. I then clearcoated the entire canvas again with gloss medium using my trust roller. I laid the canvas out on the floor for the roller job. In the process, my dog ran across the surface! I don't even want to talk about that, but with some careful restoration work I was able to remove the damage.
The wing span of the hawk in the painting is 30 inches, making it about 60% of life size.
Virtually every aspect of this painting was a new challenge for me, and although I found the painting frustrating and nervewracking to work on, I am quite pleased with the final product.
Sometimes I envy you digital artists guys with your monitors and your tablets.
ps - compare the head of the hawk to my avatar
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