That's a turkey vulture.

[radiantfracture]

Aaaah I love this guy. My new favorite painting - the turkey vulture.



I tried out a looser, more watercolour-inspired style with this painting and while I did also go in and do some detailing, I really like the effect.

(The paint is gouache, more commonly used for its density and intense colour -- which it is also showing off here!)

The freeness of this painting shows the lack of pressure I felt compared to the commission I just did -- which I do also like, but it is tighter and more graphic in style. Sigh. Ironies.

It's a dull cloudy windy day, but I think this photographed up pretty well.

Original photo from tanager_girl on Instagram.

{rf}

Comments

[radiantfracture]

I love that they're smart and friendly! I did not know that, but of course they are. And really their heads are wonderfully sculptural.

Also, as you are one of my only readers, you are one of the few people in the entire world I can have an in-joke about vultures with.

[sabotabby]

Did I ever tell you my turkey vulture story?

They're massive as hell, so the first time I ever saw them, I had no idea what they were. Birds just aren't that big around here. So I thought maybe they were some kind of eagle, except I thought eagles were more solitary. I saw a bunch in a park where I was walking and everyone just stopped to stare at them. I managed to snap a few pictures of them.

My then-roommate's then-boyfriend was an avid birder, so I asked him, and he was like, "oh, just turkey vultures." I guess, expecting me to be disappointed. Which I wasn't because that was somehow even more rad.

Okay this is not much of a story but it was still very exciting to me at the time.

[radiantfracture]

I love your turkey vulture story!

I feel like the avid birder should have been more encouraging.

"I'm into some pretty obscure birds. You probably wouldn't have heard of them."

[sabotabby]

*does a quick check to see if the avid birder is a mutual*

Oh thank fuck. Yeah no, he absolutely was a hipster about birds. Well, no, more of a Comic Book Guy about birds. Not every encouraging at all. Which made me love the turkey vultures more.