I enjoy watching oystercatchers, and have often see them on Staffin beach: walking, hopping, pecking, then flying away when you take that one step too close. Their skinny red legs and long red beaks, the weirdly red eye. An on-going contemplation of how orange-red or pink-red that red is.
Now, finally, I’ve started working on a large painting featuring them. It’s had two rounds of “stop and leave to dry” then reassess and rework, and needs more. This photo was taken at the first “leave to dry overnight” stage, and first thing I did the next day was make the heads smaller by “adding sea”. I want to both delineate the birds more and keep a sense of movement. Whether I’ll get it working to my satisfaction I don’t know. But it’s pleasing to be trying.
100x50cm (40x20cm)