RED-TAILED HAWK, PART 4

Here the finished painting shows how I have continued working with color and tone generally making the bird's head darker and to define feather markings etc. Some careful (but understated) details are been attended to around the eye along with a subtle wash of pale yellow over the beak and around the gape. I kept the rest of the bird faded out so that the emphasis would be solely on the head. Some careful lifting of color brought out highlights and feather detail where needed. Red-tailed Hawks are quite variable ranging from quite dark birds in the Southwest to pale birds in the North. This particularly handsome bird is a medium plumaged individual and I have painted quite a number of studied of him. The final work is 71/2" X 11".