Having an idea of where I wanted to go with this, I headed out into the field to gather some reference material.  It’s difficult to translate the image in one’s mind to the page, and finding the right subject to match what I envisioned took some searching.  I eventually found what I was looking for at the Arboretum, next to one of the well-worn paths: a mature black cherry with scaly reams of splitting bark, each flat plane positioned to reflect light at a different angle.  All the shadow and texture I would ever need to remain artistically engaged.

Delicious!

Several dedicated trips to sketch woodpeckers were also in order.  Suspecting that the smaller Downy would better fit my composition, I intended to focus on these birds.  But it was the larger, bolder, and more charismatic Hairys that kept drawing my attention, and I ended up returning home without a single Downy sketch.

Next was the preliminary sketch, to help solidify the composition I was carrying around in my head and identify any problem areas.  It quickly became apparent that I wasn’t going to be including the sturdy, thick-billed form of a Hairy in this painting.  I needed the bird to be dwarfed by the trunk it was beginning to ascend — to not only be diminutive, but look it as well.  Colour was another problem element, as the warm browns drowned out what I’d hoped would be a bright flash of red nape feathers against a monotone, wintery scene.  I’ll have to careful to keep my hues grey and subdued in the finished piece.

Preliminary colour sketch.

So another trip out for Downy sketches (which I had to put off for nearly two weeks, due to my work schedule and some untimely bad weather).  Although they look very much alike, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers are not closely related, and to the more experienced birder the very mousy appearance of a Downy instantly differentiates it from the larger bird.  It’s not clear why the two species have such similar plumages (an impressive example of convergent evolution), although given just how similar they are — almost right down to the very last detail — it seems likely than an interspecific influence such as mimicry could be involved.

I finished sketching out the piece on my freshly stretched sheet of Saunders paper this evening.  Loki was kind enough to remove the excess kraft tape from the edges of the board for me — he’s considerate that way.  Now it’s finally time to break out the paints.