I wanted to draw the birds at the feeder on the back deck but none showed up except the male Cardinal so I started drawing the squirrels. I always wonder what they are thinking. They hung around upside down for quite a while instead of pouncing on the seed. Huh?!  And I wondered why. And scribbled down as I drew. 

I had multiple problems with the background. The animal painting went fast and I was pleased with them except the goldfinch who annoyed me for a while til I took the hump out of his back.  I converted the painting to grey tones and realized it was all the same tone except for the birds. I like andres turquoise but it was too close to greys in tone. 

So I painted the background Antwerp Blue and laid it on to heavy. Since this is Strathmore 400 wc sketchbook it was easy to lift and boot off the color but it left hard edges on the squirrel tails. Oops. 

So I wet and whipped away some color and added more to the tails.
Anyway off to Atlanta for Henry’s fifth birthday. How can he be that old?! Margaret xoxoxo.