Final Piece: Blue Footed Booby

I studied abroad for a month in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. While I was there I was taking a biology course looking at evolution, and the work the Darwin did to contribute to our knowledge of evolution. We also looked at ecological factors that contributed to the rich diversity of species found in the amazon as well as on the Galapagos islands. It was truly an experience of a life time. I really love animals and being surrounded by nature. I think there is something incredible about seeing animals in their natural habitats and this is exactly what we got to do. We had the chance to see such a wide range of plants and animals that are native just to these islands. In this piece, I am looking at a blue footed booby which is known for is bright blue feet and beak! They are a type of sea bird native to the galapagos islands. This painting was based of a photograph that was taken will I was there and I liked how it really depicted the animals reaction to humans. You could tell that it was definitely their island, that humans were visiting and not the other way around. They did not startle easily, but rather just looked at us and tried to figure out what we were or what we were doing. It was fun to see these different kinds of reactions.

Stage 1: Tried to put in most of the rocks and the beginnings of me
the blue footed booby so that there would be a strange separation
between the background and the figures. 

Stage 2: Continued adding details to me

Stage 3: Got the rest of the ground in and began bringing in the grass

Stage 4: The booby has the rest of its feathers and its shockingly
blue feet! Work on grass continued as well.

Stage 5: For the most part the piece is complete. I have to fix the
coloring of my right arm as well as the angle and placement of
shadows and highlights on the hand. My face also got a little too
dark after I tried to fix my eye.