Taking Flight

Just the other day I sent off a pheasant I'd been working on for a couple of months, to the home of a new client as a gift for his daughter.  He was referred to me by someone I met at the Holmesburg open house, so this was basically my first connections free (no friends, no press) transaction.  I wanted so badly to give him the best possible finished product, and I think he left pleased.



He requested a position which would suggest the bird was about to take flight and emphasized his wishes for the tail to be prominently displayed.  Seeing as I've only observed pheasants in the wild a handful of times and never close-up (a fact I'm not proud of and hope to change soon), I took my time with this bird and did plenty of research.  What I decided upon was this stalking through the grass, poised to take off pose:







 



He requested a natural habitat with grass and such.  I took creative liberty here and added some decorative reeds and such in an arrangement I found copacetic with the pheasant.









 



So long, special friend!  It was a pleasure knowing you.