Giving the Bird

Ok, this is corny I know. But I am a teacher that hates to hear kids cuss and flipping people off drives me nuts. I think it is pointless and mindless and just shows that you could be using your brain a bit more than doing those things.

Anyway, even though I hate the actual action of "giving the bird," I have to admit that I have had fun being corny with my high schoolers about "giving them the bird" during this assignment ;-) Yes, that's teacher humor for you. Don't worry, I am no longer offended if you join my students and roll your eyes at my weak attempt at humor.

So here is my progress on the bird drawing I will be giving to an art show. The show benefits youngsters in Honduras and I think the proceeds are going towards buying them instruments.

 

I had to have a fellow teacher help me figure out how to do the background. I have to agree with her that green was the way to go.

 

After getting most of the background finished, I felt like the contrast of the colors against the background just didn't "pop" quite the way I wanted it to.

 

After I put black around the edges and faded it out, I really liked how it worked.

 

Here is the finished product after I finally remembered to add the little leaf 

on the bottom of the branch.

 

I have probably said it before, but I enjoy looking at the photos of the process of creating the artwork way more than I like looking at the photo of just the finished product. I think it gives you a lot of insight into how the mind of the artist works.