Monday, October 26, 2009

"Independence"


Just finished this pastel of two "teenage" cygnets venturing away from the parent birds for the first time, I have been watching this amazing family since my return from Australia in June.

There are eight cygnets altogether and I have been facsinated by the wonderfully protective parents raising all eight to maturity, they are in a local area populated by foxes and swim on a canal that is home to many large Pike so these cygnets have all survived against the odds.

This weekend I watched as the Cob bird chased off the young in batches towards their independence, leaving Mum with just one baby to watch over, I guess soon they will have the place back to themselves!

Anyway I have done so much autumnal foliage as background lately that I felt it was time to use some of the colours that get left in the bottom of my tray, this watery scene was a challenge to say the least!

7 comments:

Jennifer Rose said...

there is only one swan in the loch here, the mate must have been killed so no young ones :( would love to draw some signets if there are ever any there.

great job with the water and the reflections :) nice flowing sense to the water

pett paintings said...

Oh what a shame :-(
Maybe one of our cygnets will travel up and pair up with your lonely bird? there are far too many here to share the water space!
I loved painting the cygnets but the water.........arrrgh

Jo said...

Another brilliant picture Kay. Gosh you're on a roll at the moment :-))

pett paintings said...

Thank You Jo I am keeping myself busy as i have a completely empty order book :-(
Hopefully I will make some sales at a local exhibition at the end of November

Sue Clinker said...

Well you have produced some fabulous pieces so thats a huge plus for having an empty order book. These are bound to be sought after at the exhibition - I'll keep everything crossed for you.

I love the composition and colours in this

pett paintings said...

Aw thank you Sue :-) I rather doubted the composition here as I wish I had centralized the cygnets a bit more? but I have had a lot of positive feedback so maybe not so bad after all:-)

Jan said...

Boy, you are on a roll! And I think your comp works really well, Don't they say that a centered subject is boring? The water looks especially good.