Commission: Red Tailed Hawk

Being my friend means that if you ask for a piece of art it'll probably take me about six months to complete it. Not because I don't like you, it's because I procrastinate like woah.

I would like to note that a buddy asked me to paint a red tailed hawk in January. I finally sent him a sketched out idea sometime in April...maybe even May.

The sketch was given the thumbs up and so I got started.

Cutting this out took a lot of patience. What a lot of work! 

Coming along. I took this photo to show a size comparison to my feet.


A close up of the face in progress. The final touches include the black lines and the color in the eyes. At this point he's looking more angry than regal. 

The completed piece. It's about 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall. Acrylic painted on 3/4" plywood.

Detail of the wingtip.

Another detail shot. I'm loving the colors of this piece!

I also love how I was completely trusted with the outcome of this piece. The official commission was: "Red tailed hawk, your style." And that was it. How awesome is that?! I assure you, this is a responsibility that I don't take for granted.

Art Snacks - September 2015

Subscription boxes are all the rage now, aren't they? I mean, a box of cool stuff showing up on your doorstop every month...yeah! Sign me up! But I know I would quickly go broke buying ALL THE BOXES (for example, I'd love to get Teabox, Mistobox, and/or Ipsy. And my pup would love Barkbox!) so I had to be very, very selective on which subscription I'd choose. When I heard about ArtSnacks, I immediately made up my mind that THIS IS IT!

What is ArtSnacks? ArtSnacks is a monthly subscription service for the best art products around, providing artists all over with top-of-the-line art supplies.

I signed up almost a day before the monthly cutoff date so I didn't have to wait too long for my box to arrive. Thank goodness! I'm so impatient when it comes to stuff I've ordered online. 

When a small box arrived with an ArtSnacks stamp, I quickly tore into it. Everything was carefully wrapped in tissue paper. There were five products inside:

A Swiss Wood Pencil

Winsor & Newton Pigment Markers (Magenta & a White Blender)

A Moo Eraser

& Laffy Taffy!

The magenta marker made me think of tulips so I quickly sketched some. At first I was like, hmm, I dunno...a pencil is a pencil, right? But I found myself thinking, woah, this feels pretty good. I'm used to drawing with whatever crappy pencil I have around, so this was definitely a step up in my usual process. Not to mention, the pencil smells really good! 

The markers are even on the market yet, so ArtSnacks subscribers are some of the first artists to try them out. Neat! I don't have much experience with markers, so I can't tell you how these compare to others, but I did notice a big difference when I went from regular sketchbook paper to the marker paper that ArtSnacks provided. Look at that nice blending! I might just have to get some marker paper and experiment some more. 

In conclusion, this was a neat way to spend twenty bucks. I think I'll keep up the subscription as long as I have the extra funds in my monthly budget. I've read some other reviews about how you can just as easily try stuff out at the art store, but if you're anything like me you'll talk yourself out of any extra purchases while you're there. With ArtSnacks, the decision is already made for you. Just be open to whatever supplies you recieve and have fun with it!


(Disclaimer: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned.)