It was another week focused on fanciful compositions, this time fixated on blue jays (there is one haunting my backyard, where I’m increasingly working now that Michigan is favoring high-heat/high-humidity days. Also, I finally finished patching my fence and mounting gates, thus making the yard safe for the dogs to wander and amuse themselves rather than kvetch at me all afternoon because they are bored and disagreeable).
Anyway, this sketch started in this direction because I had a reference photo of a blue jay that made the lil fella look quite regal and blue jays naturally have a Henry the 8th chin-beard. But I ended up liking it because the royal bird wound up looking sorta shell-shocked, like the enormity of his power and responsibility had just dawned on him.