Bird on a Perch: Peregrine Falcon

This is a pastel painting of a peregrine falcon at rest on a tree stump but keeping a watchful eye out for its next meal. It was created using Faber Castell pastel pencils on Fabriano Ingres pastel paper. These were the materials I had started with while learning pastel art and I continued to use them for a while as I was developing. This painting was completed as a sort of 'homework' for an art group that I attended for a while, until the art tutor retired. It also made it into the selection for our end-of-year art exhibition. I decided to give the painting a blurred background, akin to a short-focus photograph, so that I could concentrate on the close-up detail of the bird and the tree stump. It was intended as the first of a series of paintings under the banner 'Bird on a Perch' and since I love birds of prey, I decided to start with one and chose this peregrine falcon. The series has not developed as I had hoped, chiefly because I seem to have been doing a lot of landscapes instead, but it is still in mind and will feature various species of birds on a variety of perches The painting measures 18 x 28 cm (or 31 x 41 cm in its cream coloured mount). The Copyright © of this artwork remains with artist Mike Shayler of mikeshaylerpastels. This artwork may not be reproduced, either in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the artist. All rights reserved.