BALD EAGLE, PART 3

Working mostly on the plumage along with a few finer details added here and there has brought me to this point. It has taken me some time but I managed to get the feeling I wanted with this painting. As with most of my watercolors, I built up the tones by adding thin washes of color being careful to paint around the lighter areas. This is a sub-adult eagle, probably about two years old. The bill and the cere has started to lighten but the iris is still dark - this will gradually lighten over the years until the bird becomes an adult in about 4-5 years. Although I do like the white head and tail of a mature Bald Eagle, my artists' heart prefers the plumage of an immature and I find working on such a bird far more stimulating. In the early stages of this work I was continually reminded of a young White-tailed Eagle of Northern Europe and Asia - although that bird has an even more massive bill! I still hope to see and paint that eagle one of these days and greatly admire the work of Lars Jonsson who has done many paintings of these magnificent birds. This study is 9.5" X 7.5".