Here is a full shot of the piece. I have a large amount of finicky bark at the bottom left to do. I am happy now with the background. I also added a bit more shadow under the tail and bringing back a bit more detail. I remember now why I tended to draw smaller pieces 🙂 This is my first piece where I worked all areas of the paper. 🎨

I finally had a chance to spend some more time on this chickadee. Still working away on the bark. I am playing with the idea of a background on the left. I think it may make the chickadee pop. I have included a pic of my tools. Yes, I use a wide range of pencils in hardness as well as size. I prefer mechanical pencils these days because the pencil balance remains the same regardless of lead length. You will also see blue tack for gently lifting off graphite as well as my tombow eraser and stumps for blending. 🎨

I decided to head to a local artist meetup today at the Ottawa Art Gallery to draw and hang out with other artists. I had a chance to chat with a couple artists working on a variety of wonderful projects. I got a bit more done on the chickadee but the light wasn’t great (that’s me in the middle). Decided to start up a new digital butterfly pic. Probably 1-2 hours left on the butterfly. The tree bark being most of the time. 🎨