I was very honored and privileged to have been asked by a dear friend (and one of my collectors) to try and re-create one of my early bird paintings. Mind you, it sold a couple of years ago but it still is strong in her memory. I told her it might not be exactly the same, but I could use the same reference photo and we would see what happened.

Well, I’m not unhappy with it. I hope she likes it too. Needs a few weeks to finish drying and then it will get a coat of a retouch varnish and framed.

Here is the original reference photo I took.

Here is the original painting she remembered:

And here is the new version:

You can really see the glare from the wet paint on this guy’s body. In a few days that will die down. There is a lot more viridian in this new painting and a lot more ultramarine blue in the one from two years ago.

Here they are all side by side:

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Hope she likes it.

This may not be a masterpiece, but I think I’m getting better as a painter.

Now to figure out how to get a few portrait commissions…