Endangered
Bird Week 2
There are thought to be only 135 or fewer pairs of these left. They are endemic to Saudi Arabia. While their biggest threats are habitat loss and fragmentation, tourism is actually another problem. The fact that there are lots of tourists is essentially making their diet full of a lot more junk food. The written description I saw of them said they have white on their shoulders, but the vast majority of pictures of them that I saw, the white did not show. Mostly, it showed when they were flying or being handled by researchers. Because the ones sitting happily on their own for the most part did not have white showing there, I decided to paint them that way. They are black and white birds, but their feathers often show a lot of colour because of how iridescent they are. I decided to show that.
Well, I showed up at the eye doctor. Though they had called and said "for your appointment tomorrow, would it be ok if you came earlier?", they didn't mean tomorrow (ie., today now). They still meant Monday. So, I get to stay anxious until Monday it seems. I also don't yet know what I'm doing next week, so I need to figure that out early. I do not want to be staring at the computer with my eyes dilated. I finished a commission today though.
This is the beautiful miniature horse of my friend from University. I almost never do commissions because I'm always so worried that someone won't like what I've done. When I'm painting animals for myself, it doesn't matter because I won't get offended if I don't like what I've done. Horses are really why I started wanting to learn to draw when I was a little kid though, so I am always happy to be able to draw one.