Fermata

Fermata

Size: 7x14 inches

Medium: Watercolor, metallic pigments, gold leaf

For prints ($12.75), original painting ($650.00) and detailed closeups, -click here-

In musical terminology and notation, a fermata means to hold a tone or rest beyond the written value. It is a sustained moment beyond that which the meter or rhythm would normally accommodate.
Incidentally, a fermata is also sometimes known as a "bird's eye".

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Some of the in-progress scans and photos of this piece:

Initial sketch. I was scrawling in my sketchbook and the idea took shape as I went. So when I reached the upper edge of my page, I taped another sheet above to keep going.

 Scanned that and modified some aspects in photoshop. I wanted him to be standing on a rise, and so changed the angle of the haunches to better reflect that, as well as some of the lines of face and neck. It's mirror flipped so that I could get a better idea of what changes I needed to make. Sometimes when you look at a piece too much, you no longer see the flaws. Flipping it gives a fresh perspective.

 Finalized sketch on my painting surface. The birds were added just before painting and were not a part of the initial conceptualization. But something was missing and once I added them in, they felt right.

Two days of painting later.