#140, 6/28/19, An Ostrich

After the Golden Gate Bridge, I was ready to do something simple, let my mind relax a bit.  The ostrich fit the bill.  Most of the painting is the background, which has nothing in it.  Perfect.  Plus, the subject is so light-hearted.  The goofy bird just makes me smile.  This one went super-fast, maybe 30 minutes.  The background was originally flat, and I didn't like it.  So I added lots of visible brush strokes.  I feel like it gives the illusion of water, though that's not what's in the photo.  I couldn't quite capture the wispiness of some parts of the bird's head, but for the most part he's got some feathery texture. This may be the craziest subject I've decided to paint, it kind of begs the question, "Why?"