"Vamoose," Daily Painting #15

"Vamoose," Available (Click Here)

6" by 6" 

Oils on Panel

Young Jake

"Vamoose"Side view for texture. 

I love the proud upright posture a wild turkey takes on as he or she retreats. There is no ducking for cover, but instead an alert charge for cover. I wholly agree with Benjamin Franklin that a wild turkey would have made an ideal national bird. Oh well.

Often on evening walks in Julian we would see a group of them across a small field and watch them peck and move through the field slowly, their heads parallel to the ground making small chirps, and then see them go silent from a threatening sound and commence a most elegant race. This young male (jake) looked barely full grown and was sparring a bit with his small group of other jakes before beating the retreat. (Here's a good video of a wary turkey hen chirping.)

Process

With this piece I was exploring how to portray a sense of motion while still capturing that upright posture that conveys so much personality. There are just so few animals that move at speed in a vertical position. I softened the background details and the jake's legs to help the eye recognize the look of movement. Apart from that I focused on getting the body stance to have a loose natural quality. 

On to More Painting

I've been missing some highly colorful subject matter. Hmmmmm....