On the BIG Easel Today

My painting,  Parental Guidance, has evolved over the past couple of years.  The first version, Mother and Fledgling, was a work on paper and sold in a gallery in Park City.  That work on paper is shown below:  

Mother and Fledgling

Then there was this version acrylic on canvas titled Parental Guidance:

 

Then there was this version acrylic on canvas Parental Guidance in custom made frame:

And this week I am re-designing it again---inspired by crow feathers I collected when I lived in Seattle and first began painting crows.  The following photos show the real feathers taped to the painting.  Though I love the idea and appearance of the real feathers attached (in a secure manner) to the canvas, I know it is impractical, making the work vulnerable.   It would need to be protected from dust and bumping by being mounted under glass or plexiglass.  That's not the direction I want to go.

So I decided to copy each of the feathers in its place by painting them onto the painting.  And here is the painting today:

I'm working on details of the finished painting.  The chalk guidelines are still visible in the photos above.  I'll decide on the final color to be placed at the top where the blue area is now.

When this painting is complete, I feel I can finally move on and let go of any more iterations of Parental Guidance!