Art Every Day: J is for Just Do It!

Day 10
I had no idea what I was going to do this morning. I spent some time looking at books seeking inspiration. Today is J - joy, jobs, jumping up and down, blue jays? What?

Then, email arrived from John (a good sign). Attached was a photo of a bald eagle taken near his home in New York. I have only even attempted a bird once before, but I loved the image. Frankly, I had no clue where to begin, but I decided I'd just try it and see what appeared.

My first thought was to simply capture the darks and lights in graphite and then ink. Soon, as I stared at the eagle and sketched the basic shape, colors and patterns began to appear. Some of the darks were blue, some red. Some of the lights were white white, others creamy, some yellow. Out came the pencils. One thing I wanted was to make this guy look friendly (I have some JOY in my future who might want an eagle to look at).

Here he is - a fuzzy, friendly eagle on vellum in graphite and color pencil.