Finished at last!

 

My recently finished painting of the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) 

     About five years ago I started working on a life size painting of my favorite bird, the turkey vulture. It was a big and ambitious project for me since I finish most of my paintings in about a day or two. This painting ended up being a bit different though. I’ve worked on it on and off for the last several years and finally managed to finish it this morning. It has a lot of flaws and I have definitely improved my painting skills since starting it in 2018 but I don’t really care because I’m just happy to have finished the piece. It probably would have been done a long time ago if I had stapled it down and used a wet wash technique instead of dry brushing the WHOLE THING. 

   Back in 2018 when I started working on this painting I was  obsessed with the work of John James Audubon and wanted to make art that looked like his. Now I’m happy to have a style that’s more my own but I think the Audubon look really fits this vulture painting. Audubon’s turkey vulture painting is lovely and much better than mine. Im surprised though that he didn’t choose to paint the bird from behind or above where you can fully appreciate its iridescence. Maybe he just wanted to keep it fast and simple.   

Audubon’s turkey vulture.

   Unlike many people I find turkey vultures to be the some of most beautiful birds in the world. Their wings are broad and elegant, their faces lined with delicate folds of skin, their legs and toes are long, and their brown feathers bright blue and green with iridescence. They are just splendid. While working on my turkey vulture painting someone commented that they had never thought vultures were beautiful” and that I “had done the impossible by making a vulture beautiful”. My response was that the vulture has always been a beautiful bird and that I had just shown them how to see it that way. Artists have the ability to show people how they see the world visually and I hope that this painting of my favorite bird will allow for many people to see the turkey vulture as I do. It is the most beautiful bird in the world.